Fame, Fortune and Screaming Fanboys
by Wolfie338
Summary: When Arthur started at Hetalia Academy, he expected to study and get good grades. However, in reality, he gets caught up in a web of music, mayhem and the paparazzi... Rated for language and scenes of the sexual kind. Multiple pairings. Welcome to Hetalia Academy!
1. And So It Begins

**Disclaimer: Me No Own Hetalia!**

* * *

Chapter One

And So It Begins

Okay, so when you go to a massively rich private Academy, you need money to go there, right? Or fame, or a bloody huge business…

Unfortunately I have none of that. Seriously.

Getting to America was the first problem. We (and by we, I mean my mother, my brother and I) had to save a lot just to buy the plane tickets…

It was all worth it though, for the private elite school, Hetalia Academy.

Let me tell you something about Hetalia Academy:

Hetalia Academy was founded in 1876 and was made into an all-boy's boarding school for the super rich of the time. The school fees are expensive, the teaching is of the highest standards and the building is bloody huge. The whole building was multiple floors high, spanning across hundreds of acres of land. There were dozens and dozens of features that made the entire school so unique. There was the main building, which held all the classrooms, the dining halls and the assembly halls. Then there was the headmaster's office, which was a rather largish building behind the main building. There were two sets of dorm room, one on the left for the first and second years and another set of the right for the third and fourth years.

To the east of the main building, there was a lake filled with crystal clear water and sandy beaches and a few yards from the lake was a stable for horses.

A stable! For horses!

What kind of school had stables?

An Academy… that kind of school…

I stood in front of the main building, completely stunned as I looked up at the building. With that many classroom, or rooms, or whatever, this school had better be good. The entrance exam was hard enough, so this place had better be good. I swallowed thickly, trying to gather up all of my courage. I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and walked into the building.

I was met with a tall blonde woman in the front reception, who gave me a map of the school, a letter from the headmaster and a list of my lessons and my room number and key. I thanked the woman and walked over to the dorms for the first years.

It was quite a walk to the dorm and by the time I had reached the door, my legs were beginning to ache and I was starting to become short of breath.

Damn… maybe they gave you a bicycle or something to get around on…

Or not…

What? It was just an idea!

I wandered around the dorms for a good half an hour before I found my room. There were a number of boxes left outside the door, all with 'Arthur Kirkland' scrawled on the sides in black permanent marker pen. I stuck the key into the lock, turned it and entered what would be my home for the next year.

Admittedly, I had to gasp when I saw my room. When I stepped in, I saw a large room with a table at the far wall, with a number of chairs to study on, a black leather sofa, big enough to sit four people to the left, with a huge flat screen television sat on the wall and a electric fire below it. A small kitchen area was tucked into the right corner of the room, just behind the door, with a small cooker, a microwave, a fridge and a freeze with a few cupboards.

But this… this wasn't just it.

No, there was more.

Next to the table was another door. I abandoned my suitcase by the door and wandered through, going into one of the biggest bedrooms I had ever seen!

The bed it's self was opposite the door; king sized with numerous plump pillows across the top by the headboard, a thick duvet and a thinner sheet underneath. There was a large wardrobe to the left of the door, make of oak and glossed over with a dark varnish. A number of book selves were scattered around the walls and there was another door that lead through to somewhere else. I opened the other door and was met with a bathroom the size of my mother's bedroom back in England.

I had to take a step back, back out into the first room and sat down on the sofa.

Damn…

This was…

Incredible!

I swallowed and looked back at the mountain of boxes that was waiting outside my open door. The headmaster had left me a few days off of school activities to unpack and get settled in…

Time to get to work.

I started bringing in boxes, one at a time, just as students from the other rooms were starting to come back to after class.

"Isn't that the new kid?" I heard voices whisper all around me as I brought box after box into my new living quarters.

"He doesn't look like someone rich,"

"His clothes are, like, totally gross!"

"Feliks! Quiet, he might hear you!"

I ignored the mutters and picked up two boxes, putting the heavier one on the bottom and turned around to go into the room again, when the bottom of the heavier box fell out and a number of books and papers came tumbling out of the cardboard, and all over my feet. A heavier book landed on my left foot, causing me to stumble back, bumping into someone behind me.

"Careful there!" A cheerful voice said and I felt a pair of hands grip my shoulders, pushing me up, "Look out next time, okay?" I looked up, bending my neck backwards a bit and saw a pair of bright blue eyes hidden behind a slim pair of glasses. I stepped forward and turned around, looking at the boy.

He was a good few inches taller than me, with a smiling face and blond hair, with a rebellious stand at the front which defied gravity. He wore the regulation school uniform of chequered blue trousers, a white shirt, a black tie and what looked like a letterman jacket.

"Sorry," I muttered, looking down at the number of books that were piled in front of my door, "I'm fine, thank you for making sure I didn't fall,"

"You're welcome," The boy replied, "I'm Alfred. Alfred F Jones. Don't you have someone to help you?"

"No, I don't," I admitted, "I'm not normally this clumsy,"

"Do you want some help?" Alfred asked and I looked at him in surprise.

"If you want, I won't stop you," I turned around and walked back into my… apartment? Room? What do I call this space? I suppose I can't really call it home yet… I looked around and saw Alfred picking up some of the books that had fallen out of the box. I put the box I was carrying down onto the table and yawned, loudly.

"Are you okay?" Alfred asked and I nodded.

"Just a bit jetlagged," I relied, and yawned again. I walked over to the sofa and sat down, pulling my legs up and tucking my feet under me, "I'm just gonna sit here for a bit,"

"You do that," Alfred said and I yawned again as my eyes drifted shut.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad…

* * *

"What's with the eyebrows?" I heard a voice ask in a German accent, "They're… just… dude… hasn't he ever trimmed them?"

"Dude, he's British," I heard Alfred reply; "Maybe it's like with French women where they don't shave… but with eyebro- OW!" I heard something hit something else…

"I take offence by zat comment," A very French (oh heck, not the French! Anything but the French!) voice came.

"Other than that, he's kind of cute, si?" Another voice (How many foreign people were in my apartment? Or flat or room or whatever you wanted to call it!) said.

"Oui, his ass is very nice," Wait… were they talking about what I think they're talking about?

"Who wouldn't want to tap that?" The German voice came again.

"Someone should poke it, oui?"

"Why?" Alfred's voice asked.

"To check how firm it is," There was a small pause.

"Perv,"

"How long has he been asleep for?" The Spanish voice asked.

"Since about two in the afternoon," Alfred's reply came.

"Well, that's not that long,"

"Yesterday,"

"Okay, I take that back," A buzzing sound came and a rustling of clothes, "Aw, Lovi's texting me!" There were a load of clicking noises as the Spanish voice texted someone called Lovi back…

Who was Lovi?

"Maybe we should poke him to wake him up," The German suggested.

"But he's so cute when he's sleeping!" Alfred replied. There was another pause after this.

"Sometime, Alfred, you're creepier than Francis. But you're all less awesome than me!"

"Shut up," I muttered, my voice dry as I flicked open one eye, my arm reaching up to rub at my temple. These four were giving me a serious headache…

I saw the four stare down at me. One had shoulder length blond hair, tied back into a pony tail at the base of his neck with a thin blue ribbon and had dangerously deep blue eyes. The next had wavy brown hair and smiling green eyes as he looked down the iPhone in his hands. The third boy was very unusual. He had snowy white hair, crimson eyes and his skin was very pale. Was he an albino? And then there was Alfred.

"Good afternoon," Alfred smiled down at me, "How did you sleep?"

"Like a log until you started blabbering on about my arse," I muttered and everyone looked at the blond.

"It looks firm, like a ripe peach," He said and I had the sudden urge to hit him over the head with something heavy, preferably the television.

"Anyway," Alfred said, "These here are my buddies,"

"Hola! I'm Antonio!" The one who was concentrating on his phone said.

"Name's Gilbert the Awesome!" The albino grinned.

"Bonjour," The French one flirted, "Je suis Francis Bonnefoy,"

"Either speak to me in English or get the fuck out," I said and Alfred, Antonio and Gilbert burst out laughing. Alfred smirked down at me and winked.

"You're alright kid," He smiled and I rolled my eyes.

"My name is Arthur," I replied, "Arthur Kirkland,"

Remember what I said about Hetalia Academy being worth it? Well, I take it back...

* * *

**Please don't kill me… I haven't finished chapter twenty of Kung Fu Fighting yet and this is what I've been doing instead… I have no excuse…**

**Anyway, I won't be putting up the next chapter until… Kung Fu Fighting is finished… which I hope doesn't take too long because the plot bunnies are going at it like bunnies!**

**I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter of Fame, Fortune and Screaming Fanboys! Please review!**


	2. Yellow Cat Slash Red Cat

**Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas Hetalia! (Yeah, I'm doing this in different languages now… this is French!)**

**From now on, all chapters shall be named after songs and the singer's name is in the brackets. Thank you!**

* * *

Chapter Two

Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat

_I watched my yellow cat invade my red cat in the yard__  
__The feline war has raged for years, so I assume it'd be too hard__  
__For me to drive my foot between them, I would never risk the scratch__  
__Just to prove to one or both of them__  
__A cat is just a cat_

_(Say Anything)_

Mr Roma Vargas, Hetalia Academy's headmaster, had allowed me to have a week off from school studies and classes to get myself settled in and unpacked and during this time, when ever there was a break, a lunch time or when class ended for the day, Alfred, Francis, Antonio and Gilbert intruded on my space, making my new dorm untidy and constantly eating all of the food that I had in the fridge.

Is this what it's like to have children?

Probably…

Anyway, there were a few joys of having the idiots constantly visiting me. They brought many interesting people, for example, a Japanese boy named Kiku Honda, who was the sole heir to his father's business in creating and designing the next generation on computers. He was quiet and withdrawn from speaking too much, yet somehow I think we'd be great friends.

There were two Italian brothers called Feliciano and Lovino Vargas. Their grandfather was the headmaster of the Academy, and they owned a number of galleries back in Italy. Feliciano was bubbly and loud, with an all to cheerful smile on his face, while Lovino was his exact opposite; angry and rude to everyone, even Antonio who seemed to dote on the boy.

There was also a large Russian, whom Alfred seemed to be in a 'frenemy' situation with. I did ask what the Russian's (He's called Ivan, in anyone was wondering) parents did, but he wouldn't tell me…

I didn't know whether to be scared, threatened or intrigued by this…

There was also Ivan's friend, a small Chinese boy with long brown hair by the name of Yao Wang. Yao's parents own a large chain of Chinese restaurants throughout the world. I believe I've seen one in London one time, but I'm not too sure… Anyway, Yao seemed to be the only one who was able to insult or threaten Ivan without being… murdered… Yao seemed rather self centred, but I'm sure he's a good fellow.

There was also Gilbert's brother, Ludwig, who I only saw for a moment, as he came around to pick Feliciano up for club activities.

"I'm sorry for intruding," The German near grunted after Feliciano latched onto Ludwig's arm, going on about something ridiculous, "I hope Feliciano wasn't too much of a bother," I replied that he wasn't trouble and that I enjoyed his company.

"Ve~ Ludi! Ludi! Guess what I'm going to make today!" Feliciano cried and Ludwig rolled his eyes.

"Maybe pasta?" He asked and the little Italian looked up at Ludwig like he had just guessed the lottery numbers and was right.

"How did you know? Ludi! You're a psychic!" Ludwig patted Feliciano on the head and led him out of my room.

Well, that was strange…

"They totally want to fuck each other," Gilbert grinned and everyone, except Lovino seemed to nod in agreement. Lovino just started sprouting curses at Gilbert while he was being held back by Antonio, who was trying to sooth him by promising him tomatoes…

This was a weird group…

"What do you mean; they want to fuck each other?" I asked and Francis slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Mon Dieu!" He cried, "They want to make l'amour, stupid,"

"So you're telling me that those two are-"

"As a rainbow," Antonio nodded, "Especially Feli. But I'm not sure rainbow is the right way to describe Ludwig,"

"Are they the only ones?"

"Hate to tell you Arthur-san, but about sixty percent of the student population is," Kiku said.

"Including us," Francis finished for Kiku. Damn this was… weird…

Admittedly, I've had… those thoughts, but I'm not very sure of myself yet.

Fine. I'm in denial about it.

Happy now?

I've got nothing against being homosexual, but I know that my brother would judge me is I came out to him. He would probably hate me or something. I'm just… very confused at the moment.

Very.

Anyway, when we were conversing about this (basically, Francis tell us about all the people he's slept with), there was a knock on my dormitory door and I got up to answer it. Alfred seemed to beat me to it, as he opened the door before I could take a step forward.

There was a small boy behind the door, his face went a bright red when he saw Alfred standing in front of him and he seemed to clam up.

"Can we help ya?" Alfred asked in his poor excuse for English and I had to shove him out of the way of the door.

"Move your fat arse, Alfred!" I cried and he went to sit back down. I turned to the small boy and his face seemed a more natural colour now and he seemed to glare at me, "Can I help you?"

"I have a letter for Arthur Kirkland from the headmaster," He spat and I took the letter from him.

"Thank you," I said and he turned and walked back down the corridor. Strange. The boy seemed to hate me when I moved Alfred out of the doorway…

But anyway, I shut the door and sat back down on the sofa, opening up the letter and ignoring Francis, who was still naming all the people he had slept with (bloody hell, that's a lot of people… of both genders!) I slipped the small piece of paper out of the envelope and read it carefully.

'_Dear Mr Kirkland,_

_We are pleased to inform you that Merlin has now been cleared and is out of quarantine. You can come and collect him anytime you wish,_

_Sincerely,_

_Roma Vargas,'_

I smiled to myself, stood up from the sofa and walked towards the door.

"I've got to do something," I said to the crowd that were watching me, "I'll be back soon," As I left my room I heard Francis mutter something to the rest of the group, but I didn't give it a second thought.

The place I was looking for was a few yards from the stables a small building compared to the rest of the school, consisting of a single story with a large garden in the centre of it. I walked into the front reception area to see a boy, about my age with longish blond hair, purple eyes which were hidden behind a pair of glasses and wearing a large red hoodie with questionable white animal fur covered all over it and a baggy pair of jeans. He looked up at me with a small smile.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm here to pick up Merlin," I replied and the boy typed something into the computer in front of him.

"Arthur Kirkland, yes?" He asked and I nodded. He pulled a piece of paper from nowhere, scribbled something onto it quickly and passed it and a black pen over to me, "Sign this to tell us that you've collected him," He instructed and I scrawled my signature across the bottom. I passed the form back over to him and he left it on the desk. He came out from behind the desk and directed me into the direction of a door on the right side of the room, "Follow me," He said, leading me through the door and halfway down the corridor.

We stopped at a door and he unlocked it with a key that he pulled from his pocket. The room was large, about the size of my bathroom in my dorm, with multiple levels, small ramps connecting them together. On the floor, near the corner were two small bowls, one filled with water and the other was empty. Near the top corner of the room, on the highest platform, I saw a long, fluffy, orange tail hanging down, twitching every now and again. A pair of bright green eyes stared down at me, the right eye covered with an orange patch which stretched over his ear.

The cat got up, jumping down to one of the lower platforms and rubbed his face up against my hand, purring loudly as I scratched him behind one of his folded over ears.

Merlin was a two year old Scottish Fold cat, like me in personality and in almost everything else. We both had the same green eyes, the same temper (unfortunately, they were both short too) and somehow, Merlin had these strange markings on his forehead which seemed like he had my eyebrows.

Poor thing.

I was just glad to have him back.

* * *

When we arrived back at my apartment, Alfred was sitting on my sofa, his eyes fixated on an American football match on my flat screen telly.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked as I shut the door and Alfred looked up at me.

"Everyone else got bored and left. I stayed 'cause of the match," He explained and then looked at Merlin, who was still in my arms, "You have a cat?"

"Yes," I said and let Merlin jump down from my chest and sniff around his new home.

"He's cute," Alfred said and then stood up, "Wait here, I need to get something," He quickly walked out of my apartment and shut the door. I watched Merlin carefully as he investigated his new surroundings, rubbing up against furniture legs and cupboard doors, making out his new territory. His tail was high and swaying, the tip bent slightly as he trotted through to the bedroom. He jumped up onto my bed, taking in the new environment and started padding at the sheets with his paws. He was comfortable and I was happy.

The comfort was short lived as I heard the door open again and a large white… thing come flying into the room, aimed straight for Merlin. Merlin yowled loudly, jumped from his spot on the bed and darted underneath my wardrobe. The white bullet tried to follow, but got stuck halfway.

"What the bloody hell is that thing?" I cried and Alfred came running through, saw the white thing stuck under my wardrobe and sighed.

"Hero, you idiot," He laughed as he pulled the white blob of fur from under the cabinet. The white ball of fur it's self was a large, fluffy and, from what I could presume, fat cat, with a brown tail a dark mane type thing around his neck and blue eyes.

"This is Hero, my cat," Alfred smiled as the feline tried to climb up onto his shoulders, but fell to the floor instead. It trotted back over to the wardrobe and looked under it again and I heard Merlin start hissing again.

"What kind of name is Hero for a bloody cat?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I was gonna call him Hamburger, but my Ma put a stop to that and said that she didn't want to be out in the yard late at night screaming Hamburger,"

"What have you been feeding it, it's huge!"

"N'aww, he's just fwuffy," Alfred cooed, picked Hero up again and near squeezing him. The cat strangely seemed to enjoy this. I knelt down and peered under the wardrobe and saw Merlin huddled against the wall, shaking lightly. I held out my hand to him and encouraged him to come out from his spot. Merlin glared up at Hero, who was now sat on the bed. Hero jumped down, sniffed at Merlin, who, in return, whacked Alfred's cat across the head with his paw and jumped up onto my bed.

"Alfred, why did you bring your cat here?" I asked.

"I thought they could be friends, like you and me," I ignored his grammar mistakes.

"We're friends?" I asked and he nodded, "Great," I muttered, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

* * *

**I had trouble trying to deside between Merlin, Shakespeare or Sherlock. After I asked some people, I went for Merlin, because of the legend of King Arthur and the wizard Merlin. My friend Megan suggested Excalipurr (a very bad pun) and I had to hit her over the head with a frying pan. But we have Mattie too!**

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed for the last chapter and I'd like to remind you all to take a second to leave a review because they make me happy!**


	3. King Of Anything

**Disclaimer: Ich besitze kein Hetalia (German!)**

* * *

Chapter Three

King Of Anything

_I hate to break it to you babe_

_But I'm not drowning_

_There's no one here to save_

_Who cares if you disagree? You are not me_

_Who made you king of anything?_

_So, you dare tell me who to be_

_Who died and made you king of anything?_

_(Sara Bareilles)_

"Artie, come on!" I heard Alfred cried through my apartment door and I yanked it open, glaring at the American, "I starving Artie, you need to hurry or all the good food will be gone!" I pulled on my blazer and quickly scratched Merlin behind the ear, who was curled up on the leather sofa and grabbed the bag from the table.

"I'm done, we can go now," I said and shut the door behind me, "What's the hurry anyway?"

"It's pancakes today and Mattie's probably gonna get them all before me!" Alfred whined, "And if we're late then all the maple syrup will be gone too!" I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't understand him sometimes. As Alfred led me down to the dining hall, he told me all about the school's food, which he seemed to be rather fond of.

"However, if you need a break, there's always a McDonald's in town," He said, "I was so happy when I found there was a McDonald's I almost cried,"

"Why on earth would you almost cry over a greasy, over rated, sad excuse for a fast food chain?" I asked and Alfred looked like I just told him that his hamster had died, or that Father Christmas didn't exist. True disbelief was written all over his face.

"You don't like McDonald's?" He asked and I sighed.

"I don't hate it, per say, it's just unhealthy and something you eat when you're in a hurry," I explained, "I wouldn't eat it every day," Alfred nodded, an unsure look on his face as we entered the dining hall.

Was it just me or did the talking get turned down a notch when we entered?

Alfred picked up a tray and the passes one to me as he rushed towards the pancakes, which, luckily for him, were still being served. I put some toast on a plate, picked up some butter and jam pots from a small basket, and put them all on my red plastic tray. I also picked up two scones from a selection of pastries and placed them beside the toast. I moved along, watching Alfred as he piled up his tray with plate upon plate of sausages, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, toast, baked beans, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, poached eggs, boiled eggs and everything in between.

"Bloody hell Alfred, are you trying to feed an army?" I asked in disbelief.

"Nah," He replied with a small shrug of the shoulders, "I just got a big appetite," I rolled my eyes and poured myself a cup of tea, adding a small dash of milk and we left the large display of food. I looked over and saw Antonio waving me and Alfred to their table. Alfred waved back and started dodging chairs to reach the table. I followed; otherwise Alfred would have started whinging.

"Hey, where's Mattie?" Alfred asked as he sat down between Francis and Antonio and I took the seat between Lovino and Gilbert.

"He said that he forgot his history book," Gilbert explained and I suddenly saw an empty seat between Francis and the Prussian, "He said that he'd catch up with us later," Alfred nodded and started to attack his numerous plates of food.

Because that was what he was doing.

Attacking.

I sat in silence, nibbling my toast and scones as I listened between conversations.

Francis, Alfred and Gilbert were muttering to each other about music genres, Gilbert saying that rock and punk were the best, while Francis tried to step in with dance and Alfred was suggesting pop, while nearly spitting food all over the table.

His table manners are atrocious.

On my other side, Antonio and Lovino were in an intense discussion about tomatoes. After knowing the pair for a fortnight, I had come to realise that their worlds seemed to revolve around the scarlet fruits.

I picked up my cup of tea, gently sipping it as I escaped off into my own little world and observed the tabled around me. I saw Ludwig, Feliciano and Kiku sitting together in silence and, a few tables away from the, I saw Yao, Ivan and three other boys sitting together. Yao had a frown on his face as he spoke to Ivan. I shifted my vision, scanning the rest of the tables around me.

I swear, nearly everyone was looking in the direction of our table…

"Alfred?" A small voice broke me from my thoughts and we all looked up to see a small boy standing by our table. He had floppy brown hair, large blue eyes and a bright blush on his cheeks.

"Yeah?" Alfred asked and the boy's face went a deeper red.

"C-Can I talk to you for a minute?" The boy requested and Alfred stood up.

"I'll be back in a few," Alfred said and lead the boy out of the dining hall.

"Another cute one," Gilbert said and Francis nodded.

"It's a shame he'll turn him down," Francis replied and Antonio nodded.

"He always says no, retard," Lovino spat and Antonio patted the Italian's head.

"Say no to what?" I asked and everyone looked at me.

"Well," Gilbert sighed, "Every once in a while, Alfred will get a confession from someone,"

"From really cute and adorable boys too~" Antonio smiled and Lovino slapped the Spaniard's forehead, "Not as cute as Lovi~ of course," Antonio got slapped again.

"Ukes, as Kiku would call them," Francis said, "But Alfred always turns them down. I wonder why I don't get confessed to,"

"Because you're a man whore, frog breath," Lovino muttered. Alfred came back into the hall, a small slip of paper in his hand, which he stuffed into his trouser pocket. I heard a bell ring, the shrill high pitched noise echoing through the large halls, making it seem louder. Everyone started moving; swinging bags over shoulders, stacking trays and plates and walking out into the hallways. I pulled a piece of paper from my bag and stared at it.

"Does anyone who where room 308 is?" I asked.

"Between 307 and 309," Gilbert said and he and Alfred burst out laughing. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll take you," Lovino said, "It's my homeroom," Lovino let Antonio hug him with a blush on face. We parted ways and I followed Lovino through the crowds.

* * *

My homeroom teacher was a young blond man, hardly just out of university from Finland. His name was Tino Väinämöinen, but everyone called him Tino as not everyone could pronounce his last name.

Understandably.

Tino was a very nice man, with light blond hair, bright violet eyes and a cheerful, rounded face. He was also a short man, standing at about five foot seven.

And yet, he was still taller than me…

Damn.

"Take the spare seat on Lovino's table," Tino said and I nodded. The classroom was small, with a few tables to seat four people scattered around. I sat down opposite to Lovino and saw that I was sat next to Kiku, while next to Lovino, was the boy who worked at the place I picked Merlin up from.

"Did you find your history book?" Lovino asked the boy next to me and he then looked at me, "This is Matthew, also known as Mattie," Lovino explained and Matthew and I exchanged greetings. I looked around at the tables as Tino told us to relax and talk amongst ourselves until the bell rang again.

"Okay Eyebrows, listen up," Lovino order and I stared at him.

Eyebrows?! That's a bit rude!

"If you want to survive in this school, there are a few things you need to know about," Lovino explained and then nodded his head to a table at the back, where four boys where reading teen gossip magazines and texting at top speed on their mobile phones, "The Gossips. They know everything about everyone. They wear the most fashionable clothes and order every single gossip magazine out there. If you want the scoop on the biggest celebrities, you go to them,"

"Unfortunately, they can be a bit stupid so you'll have to use small words with them," Matthew said and I nodded.

Did this school have a hierarchy or something?

"And then," Lovino continued and gestured to a table near the front of the room, where a bunch of students were playing with cameras and talking in hushed voices between them. One student had a notepad out on the desk and was writing on in, "There are the Paparazzi,"

"Fear them," Matthew muttered and I looked at the three of them in horror.

"Why?" I asked and Lovino sighed.

"They work for the school's newspaper club," Kiku explained, "They get into your personal life, expand it into something outrageous and publish it,"

"They take you down so that you're humiliated," Matthew stated, "I heard that one year, a boy had to go back home because he couldn't go to class or anywhere without people asking him about his private life,"

"Harsh," I muttered. A loud cry erupted from the table behind up and I quickly looked.

"The Muscle Heads," Lovino explained and I span back around to look at him, "The sports players of the school. They don't care about classes or their grades, just sports and how pumped up they can get," I looked around again at the group who were obviously very small in the brain area. A knock at the door dragged us from our conversations and we all looked up to see a boy who was a year or two above us.

"I'm sorry to interrupt Sir," He said, "But Mr Bondevik has knocked Mr Densen out with a chair again," Tino muttered something in Finnish and got up from his seat.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," He said and rushed out of the room, asking the boy if he had asked someone else to come down to the room. The class was silent for a few moments and then got stuck back into their conversations.

"Does that happen often?" I asked and the three nodded.

"About twice a week," Kiku said and I frowned. I'm in a school surrounded by a hierarchy of students and violent, questionable teachers.

Great, just brilliant.

As we started talking again, a palm smacked the table top in front of me and the whole class went quiet again. I looked up to see a boy with short caramel coloured hair, deep chocolate eyes and tanned skin. He stood with a hand on his hip, leaning against the table's surface as he stared down at me with murder in his eyes.

If looks could kill, I would have been six feet under by now.

"Can I help you?" I asked and the boy glared at me even more.

"You think you're so great, don't you?" he spat and I looked at him in confusion, "Just because Alfred helped you with a few boxes and let you sit by him a breakfast, doesn't mean that you're friends with him,"

So this was about Alfred?

Why Alfred?

"Excuse me, I don't really understand what you're talking about," I said in my business-like tone.

"You heard me," He said in an angrier voice, "Stay away from Alfred F Jones or you'll be sorry,"

"Who died and made you king?" I asked as he was turning around to sit back down. He stopped and looked back at me again.

Shit, did I just say that?

My mother didn't raise me to be like this!

I felt Matthew grab onto my sleeve.

"Stop now Arthur," He pleaded, "Please! You're messing with the Monarchy!"

"The Monarchy?" I asked and looked back at the boy.

"I am a Prince, you idiot, so when my brother dies with no heir, I'll be King!" The boy cried.

"A stupid little micro-nation on a tiny island in the Mediterranean doesn't count as a kingdom fuck face," Lovino spat, "Just leave Arthur alone, Jesse,"

His name is Jesse?

His name is JESSE?

My brother would be falling over himself in laughter by now.

I held back a chuckle as Jesse turned to Lovino and sneered at him.

"Lovino, just because you're distantly related to the Italian royal family, doesn't mean you can get all jealous about my kingdom," Jesse said. "We've overlooked you for hanging around Antonio for the past few weeks; however I can ruin your reputation at this school if you ever call me fuck face again!"

Bloody hell, what a self centred bastard!

"The only royal thing you are is a royal pain in the arse!" I cried and stood up, facing him head on. He was only an inch or two taller than me, but he was thinner.

"What did you just call me?" He growled, his hands clenched with anger and his face started turning a violent shade of red.

"You heard me," I said, "I'm pretty sure than Alfred can choose his own friends and doesn't need someone to tell him who to trust or who to hang around with in his spare time. Now, if you'll kindly get your head out of your arse and stop looking down on people like their shit, I'm sure you'd have more people who like you for your personality and not your position in life,"

"Why you little-" The bell cut him off as everyone started to move to their first lessons. I picked up my bag and swung it over my shoulder, almost hitting Jesse in the face with it. Everyone seemed to look at me in shock as Lovino, Kiku, Matthew and I swept out of the room in a somewhat graceful manner.

"This is war, Arthur Kirkland!" I heard Jesse shout after me, "I'll take you down and have you moved back to wherever you came from before you can say Jesse Orto Mizzi the third!"

There's no way he would do it.

He's a big Jessie after all.

* * *

**To explain: Acting like a Jessie in Scottish terms means that you're acting like a wimp, so a Jessie is a wimp.**

**I don't like Jesse, he's a bitch.**

**Please review!**

**P.S. King of Anything is one of my favourite songs right now and I love it and I just had to use it for this chapter!**


	4. What Hurts The Most

**Disclaimer: No soy dueño de Hetalia! (The language of tomatoes, churos and turtles! That's right, it's Spanish!)**

**Warning: Jesse being a major douchey arsehole…**

* * *

Chapter Four

What Hurts The Most

_I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house_

_That don't bother me_

_I can take a few tears now and then and just let 'em out_

_I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while even though_

_Goin' on with you gone still upsets me_

_There are days every now and again I pretend I'm okay_

_But that's not what gets me_

_(Rascal Flatts)_

I sat underneath a tree, a book open in my hands and my bag sat against the trunk beside me as I stared down at the page. My eyes skimmed back and forth across the lines, engrossed in the story. As I started reading further into the book, I felt someone slump down next to me by the tree trunk and I glanced up to see those pools of sapphire blue which belonged to, none other than, Alfred.

"What 'cha reading?" Alfred asked inquisitively and I showed him the cover of the thick book, "Oh, The Da Vinci Code. I saw that movie,"

"The film is a load of utter bollocks compared to the books," I said, opening the book back up again and found my place, "There has never been a good film adaptation of a book. Never,"

"You don't like movies that much, do you?" Alfred asked and I hummed in response. I started reading again as Alfred pulled his phone from his pocket and we fell silent again.

"Arthur!" I heard from a few feet away and I looked up to see Francis, Gilbert, Antonio and Lovino. I placed my bookmark between the pages and shut the book as the four came up to us.

"Arthur, we heard what happened!" Gilbert cried as they came closer, all of them smiling brightly, except Lovino, who was scowling at the fact that Antonio had an arm around his shoulders.

"Heard about what?" I asked as I put my large book back in my bag and pulled out a small bottle of water.

"That you stood up to the High Prince Jesse!" Gilbert grinned, "We heard about it from Mattie!"

"Who?" I asked and then suddenly remembered, "Oh, Matthew. What of it?"

"No one has ever stood up to Jesse since we've been here, making you the first," Francis said, "You, mon ami, are the school's top gossip," I looked at them with a blank expression on my face.

"I don't care," I said and Francis gasped in an overdramatic way.

"Why don't you care?! You have fame!" Francis cried, "You can have anyone you want! Boys will bow down at your feet, do your homework for you and suck your-mmmm!" His mouth was suddenly covered by Gilbert's hand and was hit upside the head by Lovino.

"Francis is just going a bit overboard with this," Antonio said and I raised an eyebrow. Just a bit? "We just wanted to say congratulations on showing Jesse his place and I wanted to thank you for helping Lovi~" Antonio patted Lovino's head, who tried to dodge out the way with a scowl. I took a small sip of my water and then put the bottle back in my bag.

"Look," I said, "I have no interest in fame. I came here to study and get some good qualifications, not to mess around!" I stood up and stung my bag over my shoulder, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some homework to finish," I walked away from them towards campus and ignoring the stares I got from nearly everyone.

This was annoying.

"Hey, Eyebrows!" I heard from behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see Lovino jogging up to me, "You okay?" He asked as he stopped beside me, his bag swinging back and forth across his back every now and then.

"I'm fine," I replied with a small smile.

"What was that back there?" He questioned and I shrugged, "Most people would fucking kill to have something positive written about them by the paparazzi," He explained with somewhat dramatic hand gestures, "It takes years of respect to be at that level in the school's hierarchy and you've fucking done it overnight! Eyebrows-" I wrinkled my nose at the nickname Lovino had started using for me. But at least it wasn't 'bastard', "-You're a celebrity now! Everyone in this school knows your name!"

"Well, I don't want people to know my name," Lovino looked at me in shock, "I came here to study, not to be famous. I hate celebrities," Lovino raised an eyebrow and slapped me on the back.

"Well, Eyebrows, you're going to hate most of the people here," We started walking at a slow pace down the dorm corridor. It was a comfortable silence, but something was bothering me.

"Lovino?" The Italian hummed to say that he was listening, "How do you know so much about the school?"

"My Nonno's the principal," Lovino replied, "I know everything," I nodded but stopped walking suddenly. Outside my dorm, a crowd of people were gathered. The door was hanging open and, from what I could see, my stuff was thrown all around the room.

Simultaneously, Lovino and I both rushed forward, the crowd parting as we shoved our way through. I gasped when I saw what had happened. Books had been thrown off their shelves, the spines where battered and their pages had been torn out and were thrown across the room, creating a sea of white on the plush carpet floors. The leather sofa had been ripped open; the stuffing was ripping out and pouring from the leather lining. The television had been knocked over, the screened cracked and the plugs had been torn from their sockets. I spotted curious splodges of neon green paint across the floor and lower walls. I heard Lovino shut the door, blocking out the audience's view of my ruined dorm room.

"What the fuck?" Lovino muttered, picking up a book with half of the pages torn out, "Someone's out to get you," He chucked the book back on the floor and looked around. Suddenly, my mind flicked to one of my cat.

"Merlin!" I cried and rushed to the bedroom. I ignored to shredded clothes that were spewing out of my wardrobe. Knocking the ripped fabric out of the way, I crouched down and looked under the unit. Merlin was cowering in the corner, his tail puffed up and his fur was covered in neon green paint.

He didn't come out.

He just looked up at me with big, wide eyes and pressed himself further against the wall.

I stood up and looked over at my bed. The quilts and covered were thrown back, and muddy water had been thrown on mattress. I sat down in the midst of my now torn and tattered clothes, leaning my head against the cool wood of the wardrobe. I looked up when Lovino entered.

"They painted my cat green," I said and Lovino scowled.

"That explains the paint," He replied and I watched him as he walked through to the bathroom. After a few moments, I heard him calling me to follow him. I got up with aching limbs and walked through to the bathroom.

The bathroom was also bad. The sink had been smashed, leaving white porcelain pieces scattered around the room. The shower's glass was smashed and the toilet had been filled with toiler paper. I ignored all of that, my eyes focused on the wall next to the toilet. The wallpaper had been painted in red spray paint and the words, 'GET OUT' now adorned my bathroom wall.

"Shit Eyebrows, someone fucking hates you," Lovino muttered.

"I guessed," I replied. A few moments later, a heard a muffled pop song from Lovino's pocket and the Italian pulled out his phone.

"Ciao," He said and he frowned as someone started talking on the other end of the line, "Si, I'm with him at the moment… What are you bastard? We'll be right there," He hung up, stuffed his phone back in his pocket and looked at me, "That was Antonio," Figures, "He said we needed to get out to the flag poles. Something of you're is up one of them,"

"If it's my underwear, then I can buy some more," I said, going back through to the bedroom.

"No, it's a stuffed toy of some kind," Lovino explained and my eyes widened "It's green apparently. It looks like a rabbit, but it has wings,"

They had the only stuffed toy I brought to America…

Shit.

* * *

I hurried outside, to a small area near the front of the school, were there were numerous white pole, which usually held up a number of world flags and the school's flag (made up of the school's motif and a white background) on a regular day. Today, there was a crowd at the base of one of the poles, and up in the air, held by a rope, was a large green rabbit, with small wings sewn onto its back.

As I moved through the crowd, which seemed to back away from me slowly, I saw Jesse, twirling a small key around on his index finger as he laughed at something another person said. Jesse suddenly noticed me and, with a sly smirk on his lips, pocketed the key in his trousers. He moved forward from his spot next to the pole and stood a few feet away from me. The crowd had encircled us, trapping either of us from escape.

"Look who it is," Jesse sneered, "Kirkland," I heard a titter from random people in the crowd, but refused to look away from Jesse.

"You break into my room," I said, "Trash everything in it, spray the words 'Get out' on my bathroom wall, you paint my cat green and you steal the one thing that means the most to me in this world!" I pointed up at the stuffed toy.

"Oh, you mean the rabbit," Jesse said, in mock surprise, "Oh! I thought it belonged to someone else! I mean, it's not like it has Arthur Kirkland written on its label!" I felt a drop of water on my nose and looked up at the grey, cloudy sky. It was starting to rain.

"Look, I won't tell anyone that you did this, if you just give me her back," I tried to negotiate.

"Oh, the rabbit's female?" Jesse asked and I could hear giggling from my left, "What's her name, then Kirkland? Flopsy?" He moved closer to me, that mocking smile still present on his face "Nibbles? Bouncy?" I felt someone grab my shoulder and I turned to see Alfred glaring Jesse down. I looked around further to see that Lovino and Antonio had retrieved backup in the form of Alfred, Francis and Gilbert.

"Give Arthur back the rabbit, Jesse," Alfred demanded, as it started to rain harder.

"I'm sure he can buy another one," Jesse said, waving his hand in a dismissal way as he turned to walk away.

"That was a present from my Dad," I said, my eyes now concentrated on my feet. I looked up to see Jesse shrug.

"I'm sure he can buy you another."

"He can't."

"Why? Is it because you're poor? Oh, dear me!" Suddenly, I felt rage bubbling in the pit of my stomach and my blood felt cold.

"My Dad's dead, you idiot!" I yelled and everything seemed to stop. I could hear the patter of the rain around me and I glared at Jesse. No one said a word. My hands were shaking and my breath was uneven. Jesse, under the stares of everyone in the crowd, pulled the key from his pocket and threw it down on the ground. He swiftly made his escape through the crowd. I picked up the key and walked over to the pole. I unlocked the padlock that was stopping anyone from moving the rope and started pulling. After a few good tugs, Flying Mint Bunny was in my arms.

I looked back at the crowd, who was still watching me, lowered my gaze and bolted. I heard someone yell my name, but I didn't look back. The wind started picking up as I ran into the dorm corridor and found myself outside my room.

I desperately didn't want to be here.

I wanted to be at home, where the fire would be crackling lightly and my mother would welcome me into her embrace.

I felt nauseous with homesickness.

As I opened my door, I felt my muscles throb and sting and I could feel the tears burn the back of my eyes. I lent up against a wall, slipping down to the floor, clutching Flying Mint Bunny to my chest.

"Artie!" I looked up to see Alfred bursting through the door, his eyes wide and his shoulders rising and falling with each pant he took, "Artie," I looked up at him and felt the tears starting to fall.

He knelt down, wrapped his arms around me as I started to sob.

* * *

**Ha…I'm sorry… I made Artie cry… Please don't hit me!**

**Anyway, I'm sorry I'm updating kind of late, but I've had my summer job once a week and it's wayyyyyyyy too hot to do anything at the moment and I've discovered the wonderful little world of the Yogscast. (If you love Minecraft, watch them, they are bloody brilliant.)**

**Flying Mint Bunny plushies to everyone who reviews :D**

**P.S. Rascal Flatts are awesome. I love them so much!**


	5. Gives You Hell

**Disclaimer: Non possiedo Hetalia (One word: PASTAAAA~~. You know the language now)**

* * *

Chapter Five

Gives You Hell

_When you see my face_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well_

_Then he's a fool you're just as well_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_(All American Rejects)_

Small streaks of light fell upon my face as I lay on the new sofa that centred the dorm, looking up at the pale coloured ceiling. I felt Merlin rub up against the hand that was dangling down on the floor and I sighed loudly.

I was nervous.

I was never the type of person to get nervous. I remember a time when I had to give a big speech in front of my entire school once and I wasn't nervous then. I was only about eight then, but it still counts.

I was nervous today, because today was the day that Jesse came back to classes after three weeks of being isolated from the rest of the school as punishment for breaking into my room, shredding most of my books, intimidating me and animal cruelty. I am surprised that the press haven't got hold of this yet.

I looked up as Merlin jumped up onto my stomach and started to claw at the fabric of my pyjamas. His fur had been washed back to its usual silky sheen (Thanks to Matthew, as he volunteered to wash Merlin for free. He still wouldn't take payment even after the number of scratches up and down his arms), and he purred loudly as I scratched him behind the ear.

"Artie!" I heard Alfred yell though the door, followed by a thumping on the wood. I tried to push Merlin off my stomach as another voice came through the door.

"Bitch! Get your ass out here!" Lovino cried as Merlin finally jumped down and I rolled off the sofa. Merlin jumped back up onto the sofa, sitting himself on the arm and watched as I walked towards the door. Opening it, I spotted Lovino, Alfred and Antonio waiting in the corridor, all dressed in their school uniforms, looking at my pyjamas like I was mad.

Alfred then burst out laughing.

"Dude! What's with the old man get up?" He cried, nearly crying in laughter. I scowled at him. Antonio smiled in amusement, but Lovino, on the other hand, frowned, looking me up and down at my pyjamas.

"Why aren't you in uniform?" He demanded.

"I feel ill," I said, "I think I have a stomach bug," Lovino merely raised an eyebrow.

"Antonio," Lovino said and looked up at the Spaniard, "I'll meet you down in the cafeteria," He pushed me back into my room and shut the door behind him, leaving a confused Antonio and Alfred out in the corridor.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Lovino demanded, "You are not taking a sick day!"

"What?" I asked, "I'm feeling sick,"

"Bullshit!" Lovino exclaimed, "You know that the Prince is coming back today and you're submitting to his place in society. Now, get your ass into the bathroom and take a shower!"

Soon enough, I was almost ready, thanks to Lovino's… persuasions. As we both slumped down onto the sofa, bags by our feet. I leant down to the ground to start putting my shoes on, when a questions popped up into my head.

"Lovino? What's going on between you and Antonio?" I asked and he randomly started choking on his own saliva. I patted him firmly on the back, as he coughed a few more times.

"What gave you the impression that something was going on between us?" Lovino asked, panting slightly.

"The fact that you look at him like you do to no one else, the fact that I've only seen you properly smile when you are around him and the fact that the sexual tension between you two is so obvious," I remarked.

"_Stai zitto _(Shut up), you're starting to sound like Francis," Lovino said, rolling his head back against the back of the leather sofa.

"Also, I've seen him kiss you on the cheek, every once in a while," I smirked as I started pulling on my shoes. Lovino sighed.

"There's nothing going on. We're just…" Lovino thought for a second, "We're just really good friends. We've known each other since we were young,"

"Do you love him?"

"I don't know yet," There was a few seconds of awkward silence, "He's the only one who has preferred me over my fratello," He looked at me with a sad frown on his face, "We need to get some breakfast. I'm starving," He stood up from the sofa, grabbed his bag and I followed suit, my stomach suddenly knotting tightly as we walked out of the door.

* * *

There are things you do when you are young, that you could have done in a different way. You only realise this when you're older and more experienced in life and, in a good few years from now, I will look back at the moment I stepped into the cafeteria, feeling like I wanted to vomit, and know that the events after this could have gone better. A lot better.

Breakfast…went alright, considering that Jesse kept glaring at me from his seat across the hall. Everyone who was in the cafeteria seemed to suddenly shut up when Lovino and I walked through the doors, but when we sat down at our table with our trays of food, the chatter started again. I started to feel at ease with myself and the knot in my stomach was loosening. Jesse had been moved into a different form group, and I was no longer in any of the same classes as him. I was relaxed, until, of course, lunchtime.

I was in the library, trying to research Athenian Democracy in the ancient world. I had pulled my Ancient History book from my bag, opened it up, when an envelope fell onto the table. I picked it up, studying the thick, creamy coloured paper carefully. It looked expensive, and, written on the front, was his name in black ink. The penmanship was rather feminine looking, with long curves where most of the letters ended.

I flipped it open and tore open the paper, taking out the letter. I was surprised as all it said was; _'Search Alfred F Jones on Google'._

I think this was where my life started to go even more downhill that it already had. In reality, I should have just forgotten about it, torn up the envelope and its message and thrown it in the bin. But, as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat.

And today, the cat was I.

Instead of ignoring it, I suddenly found myself sitting in front of a computer, loading up the internet and Google's homepage bore into my mind. I swallowed thickly, my stomach knotting again as I started typing at the keys.

I'll try not to describe the panic that my mind went into as I started to scroll down the first Google page of results. Pictures and YouTube videos plagued the screen. News articles and gossip magazine links came up as well. I clicked on one of the first link and let it load for a second. I know that Wikipedia wasn't the most reliable of sources, but I needed the basic information.

All I needed was there in the first sentence.

'_Alfred F Jones (Born 4__th__ July 19XX) is lead singer of the band Clubs and Diamonds.'_

Alfred F Jones was famous…

Alfred was a rock star…

Alfred had just made a fool out of me…

I now felt humiliated…

* * *

Needless to say, I got out of the library as fast as I could, setting a fast pace as I stormed through the corridors, looking for Alfred. My bag kept knocking against my leg painfully and my calves were starting to burn when I finally reached his dorm room (which was right next to mine, by the way). I thumped on the door, a little louder than necessary, as Alfred opened the door with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Dude!" He cried when he saw me, "What the hell!" I pushed him back into his apartment, almost making him trip over the pile of rubbish that stood by the doorway and I shut the door behind me with a bang.

"How long were you going to hide it?" I demanded, dumping my bag on his sofa, next to Hero, who tore his gaze away from the TV, but then lazily looked back. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Hide what?" He asked, taking a small step back. I pulled the envelope from my pocket and near threw it at him. His face paled a touch when he saw what was written on it and glanced back up at me.

"Did you do it?" He asked and I nodded. He let out a shaky sigh. "Arthur, I never wanted you to find out like this,"

"How did you want me to find out then?" I asked, "Because either way, I'm sure we would have ended up here!" He placed the letter on the coffee table and took a step forward.

"Well, it's not like I could drop it into the conversation!" He replied, his voice raised slightly, "Yeah, yeah, so I got a B in my English and, oh yeah, I'm fucking famous! What is it with you and fame, Artie? Because I don't get it!"

"This isn't about me, this is about why you didn't want me to know who the bloody hell you actually are!" I shouted, "You've just humiliated me!"

"It's hard to explain," Alfred said, his voice softer and quieter than I had ever heard it before, "Look, Artie, I don't want my career to ruin our friendship! Can we please just forget about this?" I shook my head, and, when he tried to grab my shoulder, I tugged it away again.

"I need to think Alfred," I muttered, grabbed my bag again and near ran from the room.

* * *

**Haaaa… Arthur's got it in for famous people. Don't worry readers, all shall become clear in future chapters.**

**So anyway! I've been very busy (thus explaining the delay of this chapter), because I've started college (EEEE!) and it's physically exhausting. I never have a time limit on chapters, because then I can work on them like I was if I was writing a real book. Another reason for the delay is because I'm writing my own novel. I wanted to start getting it written, so I had this pushed back a bit.**

**But, even so, I'm very sorry for the delay.**

**Please review!**

**P.S. I'm addicted to this song… it is pure awesomeness…**

**P.P.S. Sorry for shortness of this chapter too...**


	6. Teenage Dream

**So, I currently have a throat infection, which has caused me to take a few days off college, so instead of catching up on work, I'm gonna write. Cos I love you guys. Booyeah.**

**Also, please don't judge me for my choice of song. I do like Katy Perry sometimes, but I find that this song is just fitting for the first part of this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: ****Watashi wa hetaria o shoyū shite inai (Japanese)**

**Warning: My very first (yes, I've never done this before) attempt at almost smut. Don't like, don't read. *blushes* I'm very nervous about what people are gonna say about this!**

* * *

Chapter Six

Teenage Dream

_You make me feel_

_Like I'm livin' a_

_Teenage dream_

_They way you turn me on_

_I can't sleep_

_Let's run away and_

_Don't ever look back,_

_Don't ever look back_

_My heart stops_

_When you look at me_

_Just one touch_

_Now baby I believe_

_This is real_

_So take a change and_

_Don't ever look back,_

_Don't ever look back_

_(Katy Perry)_

I looked up to see Alfred's intense blue eyes shining down on me in the darkness. The corner of his mouth curled upwards, creating a half smile. His face was inches from mine as he leaned down. He pressed his lips to mine in a sweet and simple kiss, before moving south, his mouth suddenly connecting to just under my jaw.

I hummed softly as he started sucking on the skin of my neck, leaving small red love bites in its place. I was only when Alfred moved down to kiss at my collar bone that I realised that my shirt wasn't there at all. Alfred shot me a lust filled look as he moved down, once again and attached onto a nipple, licking and sucking and, every now and again, nipping at it. I gasped and moaned, completely at his mercy as all the blood went straight for my lower regions.

He started moving down again, leaving small trails of kisses and love bites in his wake. He reached my navel, dipping his tongue and I felt sparks shooting through my body. He moved lower again, his fingers coming up and snapping the elastic of my underwear. He pulled at the elastic again, but not letting go this time and-

I woke up panting heavily, eyes wide and a light sweat covered most of my skin.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" I cried out loud to no one. Merlin looked up from his spot at the end of my bed with tired eyes, but then put his head back down, trying to go back to sleep. I sighed, got out of bed and walked to the bathroom to have a very, very, very cold shower.

* * *

Alfred F Jones was a tall boy, with long, flailing limbs that caused him to knock things over or trip over thin air. His hands and feet were larger than usual, adding to the disaster and destruction that he caused.

To be honest, Alfred looked everything like a rock star. So how did I not see it before now? His hair was the type of blond that looked golden. His eyes were a bright sapphire blue; his skin was naturally tanned and has a dazzling Hollywood-esque smile. To be put frankly: He was gorgeous. In a… pop sensation kind of way. N-Not that I noticed!

I pulled up that blasted Wikipedia page up again. I know that Wikipedia isn't the most reliable of resources, but that was far from my concerns right now.

'_Alfred F Jones (born 4__th__ July 19XX) is lead singer of the band Clubs and Diamonds.' _It said, stating what had been running through my mind for the past few days. The photo on the right of the page showed Alfred, staring down the camera, like he was peering into your soul with his piercing blue eyes. His wore a pair of loose, dark rinse jeans, a white t-shirt and a red checked shirt over the top. He held a guitar in his left hand, his right hand casually placed in his back jeans pocket and a sly, half smile on his lips.

Just like in my dream.

I really need to stop thinking about it; it was just a bloody dream! It's not like it really happened! Though a part of me really did wish it had happened. Or will happen. I did not just say that…

I quickly shut down the computer, threw my bag over my shoulder and left the library.

I needed more information before I could even think about talking to Alfred again.

* * *

"…So, seeing as you guys know him best, I thought I'd talk to you guys," I said. I let out a deep breath. I looked over towards the sofa, where I saw pretty much everyone in our friendship group look at me (and when I say friendship group, I mean Francis, Gilbert, Antonio, Lovino, Kiku, Matthew, Yao, Ivan, Feliciano and Ludwig. It's a bloody big group).

"What do you need to know, _mon ami_?" Francis asked, putting his textbook on the table in front of him.

"I want to know about his band," I told them bluntly. Lovino looked at Antonio and got up from the sofa.

"I'm leaving this one to you bastards," He said, going over and perching next to his brother on the kitchen countertop. I looked at Antonio, Francis and Gilbert. They were all looking away from me, avoiding eye contact.

"What's going on?" I asked, hands on my hips. Antonio looked up, rubbed the back of his head with his hand and gave a small smile.

"We are the band," He said in a too cheerful voice. I gave a puzzled look.

"Don't you ever read Wikipedia?" Gilbert asked. I have never liked using Wikipedia for information. Anyone could write anything on Wikipedia and most of the information could be absolute rubbish. Thus, I don't put a lot of trust into it. I told them this and Gilbert laughed in that strange way of his.

"Kesesesesesese, you should have read the Wikipedia page," He smirked and Francis nodded. I glared at them for a second.

"Just tell me," I demanded.

"It's just as Antonio said, Arthur," Francis explained, "We are the band. We are in the band with Alfred,"

"I'm on lead guitar," Antonio explained, "Francis play bass and-"

"I rock awesomely on drums," Gilbert finished. I looked at them in disbelief. So, Gilbert, Antonio, Francis and Alfred were in a band together…

Well, that's a recipe for trouble.

"Let me get this straight," I sighed, "You four are all in the same world famous band, and you never bleeding told me!" After a small moment of silence, Gilbert spoke up.

"_Ja_, pretty much," He grinned and I slapped my hand over my face.

"Why?" I asked in frustration, "Why did you tell me!"

"We decided that it would be best if we told you at a later date," Francis said, "I mean, it's hard for us to find real friends now," I was silent for a minute, taking in all the information that I had just been told. So, Alfred didn't tell me that he, Gilbert, Antonio and Francis were in a band because he finds it hard for them to find people who don't know that they are famous? I looked back up at the three.

"So, why did you even want to form a band if you knew that this was going to happen?" I asked.

"We love what we do," Antonio replied and Francis and Gilbert nodded in agreement. Maybe I was taking this the wrong way. However, I still needed to think about it. I said silent for a few minutes, thinking things over in my head, when suddenly, that bloody embarrassing dream popped up into my head. My face reddened slightly, enough to let practically everyone in the room see it, and I looked down at the floor.

"Arthur~" Francis near sang, "You're blushing, _mon ami_. Why would that be, hmm?"

"Shut it, Frog," I muttered, the blush fading slightly. I looked up at them again and gulped, before I let the question out.

"Alfred's gay, isn't he?" I said, rather too quickly. Francis, Gilbert, Antonio and Lovino smirked. Lovino slid back towards the sofa and sat back down, between Antonio and the arm of the sofa. I could tell that he wanted gossip.

"What makes you ask that?" Gilbert asked and I scowled at them.

"None of your business!" I replied bitterly, "Just answer the question!"

"He's bisexual," Matthew spoke up from his corner of the room. Gilbert looked over at him.

"Oh, hey Mattie. I forgot you were here!" He smiled. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Oui," Francis said, pondering slightly over what Matthew had stated, "However, he always looks for personality rather than looks. That's why he always says no to those boys who confess to him,"

"Because he doesn't know them," Lovino finished, "That's also why he hates Jesse,"

"He hates Jesse?" I asked, slightly surprised.

"Everyone hates Jesse," Lovino sighed, "Have I taught you nothing about this place? It's a well known fact that everyone hates the boy at the top of the Royalty. And for the next few years, it shall be Jesse,"

"Si~" Feliciano piped up, "But Alfred hates Jesse the most!"

"Why?" I asked, slightly confused.

"_Stai zitto, fratello_!" Lovino shouted over his shoulder. Feliciano slumped slightly. Ludwig patted the Italian's head, rolling his eyes.

"Let's just say that Jesse and Alfred have… a history," Francis said, choosing his words carefully.

Excuse me, but WHAT? They dated?! Is this why Jesse's been making my life a complete misery the past few weeks? Bloody hell, so this is all Alfred's fault?!

"Jesse and Alfred met about six months ago after one of our concerts in Miami. After two dates, Alfred asked Jesse to be his boyfriend," Gilbert explained.

"Biggest mistake of Hamburger Head's life," Lovino muttered.

"After a few weeks, we started to notice that Jesse wasn't what he seemed," Antonio said, "By this time, we had decided to go on a short tour across the country,"

"Jesse really wasn't what he seemed to be. He was constantly flirting with us, even though he knew that he was going out with Alfred," Gilbert continued, "See, we have this rule in the group, where we don't go after another's girlfriend or boyfriend. It's important that we keep this rule so the band doesn't fall apart. However, Alfred didn't see Jesse's constant flirting. He wasn't in love with Jesse yet, but there was something there. So, we started our tour and, naturally, Jesse came with us. It was strange. Jesse was possessive over all of us, like a starved lion over a scrap of meat. He loved being in the limelight and it was then we realised that something was very wrong with him,"

"We confronted him one day, Alfred included because we had told him about it, and we found out everything," Francis kept going for Gilbert, "We discovered that he was a prince of a small micro-nation in the Mediterranean, and that he was a big fan of our band,"

"And, when they say big fan, they mean, stalker," Lovino finished for them, "According to what Antonio told me, they left him in the middle of Ohio, but somehow tracked us down to here. Got his father to pay for his tuition and is currently making our lives miserable,"

"Alfred was pissed when he found out, however when he met you he seemed to calm down," Antonio said, "He's currently doesn't know what to do, beat himself up about not telling you about his life sooner, or beat Jesse up for sending that note," Wait…

"Jesse sent the note?" I asked, puzzled.

"No shit, Sherlock," Lovino yawned, "How else would do it? I know that Clubs and Diamonds has some seriously big fans in this place, but none of them would dare mess with one of the member's friends. Apart from Jesse. He's so green with envy; he's practically the Grinch,"

So, Clubs and Diamonds was a big thing and had a lot of fans.

Looks like I was dealing with the biggest fanboy of them all…

* * *

"Hey!" I heard behind me as I walked at a fast pace to try to get to my next class, "Arthur!" Someone grabbed my wrist and a spun around, my eyes meeting with the blue one of Alfred. The dream flashed up in my mind, but I pushed it out quickly without losing my composure, "Look, dude. I know I kept a huge secret from you, but I really like being friends with you an-"

"Alfred," I interrupted, "I need to make this quick, I'm late for my next class,"

"I want to know if you'll still be friends with me!" Alfred blurted out. I sighed.

"I still need time to think, Alfred," I said, honestly, "I'm sorry," Alfred let go of my wrist and looked down sadly.

"Oh," he said with a dull voice and then looked back up, "When will I know?" I swallowed and looked behind me. I was itching to get to my next class. A late note on my record wasn't the best thing to have.

"Look, I'll let you know by the Halloween party at the latest," I said, turning about around and looking over my shoulder, "Okay?"

"Yeah," Alfred gave me a small smiled, "Sorry to keep you from your class. I'll see ya whenever," He turned around and walked away and I started walking to my class. The dream crept up in my mind again and, for the hundredth time that day, I pushed it to the back of my mind.

I was going to have to ignore it, for the sake of my friendship with Alfred.

* * *

**Ah, Wikipedia. I love it. It does my homework for me.**

**So, we finally know why Jesse is a bitch. Because he's a stalker, yay!**

**But anyway, I have an important announcement to make! Gather round, gather round… *clears throat*. After much deliberation with my thoughts, I have come to the conclusion that, yes; I will be writing smut for this fanfic. However, that'll be far, far into the future. Now, I'm very inexperienced with writing… lemon and smut and stuff like that and to be honest, I'm a very innocent person. I can hardly say the word sex out loud without blushing. *Blushes*. See! So, I do wish you to be patient with me. I can read M rated stuff. Heck, these days, it's all I read, however, I've mostly stuck to T stuff, so this is a big thing for me. I would appreciate your guidance and help with this. I'm not asking for a Beta. I Beta my own stuff. But just… take into consideration that I'm like a cross between Liechtenstein and Italy. Innocent and utterly clueless about these things.**

**Okay, now that I have that out of the way, thanks for reading and please review!**

**Peace out!**


	7. Tim McGraw

**The only reason I chose this song is because it mentions a lake. Nuff said.**

**P.S. I am the world's best procrastinator! XD**

**Disclaimer: ****W****ǒ**** méiy****ǒ****u Hetalia (Simplified Chinese)**

* * *

Chapter Seven

Tim McGraw

_But when you think Tim McGraw_

_I hope you think my favourite song_

_The one we danced to all night long_

_The moon like a spotlight on the lake_

_When you think happiness_

_I hope you think that little black dress_

_Think of my head on your chest_

_And my old faded blue jeans_

_When you think Tim McGraw_

_I hope you think of me_

_(Taylor Swift)_

The Halloween party was a week away, and I still didn't know what I was bloody doing.

To be honest, I was quite wary about being friends with Alfred or… any of them. I couldn't get rid of Lovino, he was in practically all of my classes, and he'd swear at me if I told him that I couldn't be friends with him anymore.

So, as I sat on the school's beach, watching the water of the lake, I tried to sum up the pros and cons of being friends with the band, 'Clubs and Diamonds'. I sighed, wrapping my jacket tighter around myself and buried my nose in my scarf. It was windy down by the lake. Add a chilly day and I was bloody freezing. Yet, somehow, it was comforting. I felt like I was back home in London…

I ran my fingers through the sand, tearing my gaze from the grey waters of the lake to watch someone walking towards me. The collar of his brown letterman jacket was turned up against the cold and biting wind and his blond hair was slightly damp, like he had just stepped out of the shower, but that one little piece was persistently staying up.

"Hey" Alfred said as he got closer, "What cha doing out here?" He dropped his bag and sat down in the sand next to me. I didn't move.

"Thinking," I replied, "Just going over things in my head." He nodded, looking out at the water in front of us.

"You sure like doing that," He said, "Thinking, that is," He rolled his head back slightly, looking straight at me and leaning back on his palms. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry if I freaked you out," I looked back at him, an eyebrow raised. "Okay, that I freaked you out. But, I just… didn't know what to tell you," He turned his head back, gazing his eyes across the lake, "Everyone was on my back about telling you. Especially Lovino,"

"Lovino was pressuring you to tell me?" I asked in disbelief. Alfred nodded.

"Yeah, he tries to look out for you. Particularly after the Flying Mint Bunny incident," I frowned. "But I didn't know when it would be suitable to tell you…" He trailed off, leaving the two of us in an icy cold silence for awhile. "I like being friends with you, Artie," He finished.

"It's more complicated than that," I muttered, "My family and I have never gotten along well with fame."

"Oh?" He gave me a questioning look, "You gonna tell me?" I swallowed and shook my head.

"It's too painful to talk about," I whispered, "Even now," I felt my hands clasp at the golden sand and I looked down at my legs. We were like this for a few more moments before I felt Alfred shift closer and then, put his arm around my shoulders. I sat there in shock for a fraction of a second, before leaning into his embrace, my head resting against his collar bone. It wasn't awkward, far from it. It was comfortable, warm and safe.

However, in the back of my mind, that dream and the choice I had to make within the next few, short days loomed over me like a dark cloud and forever nagged at me.

* * *

Lovino grabbed my arm tightly as I nearly tripped over a step and sending myself into a crowd of students. The auditorium was packed to the brim with students and you could hardly move without bumping into someone or something. Lovino dragged me through the crowd until we found some seats near the back and next to Kiku and Matthew.

"Why are we here anyway?" I asked when most of the school was seated and just talking amongst themselves.

"To announce the theme of the Halloween party," Matthew replied. Suddenly, the lights dimmed down and a single beam of bright light shone down on the stage in front of us. Into the spotlight, our head teacher, Roma Vargas stepped and looked up at all of us with a bright, dazzling smile. Now I could see where Lovino and Feliciano got their Italian charm from.

"Ciao!" Mr Vargas said into a microphone, his voice echoing off everything. The entire auditorium was quiet. I stared at the stage, dully, as Mr Vargas passed the microphone over to a large German teacher, who looked like Ludwig, but with longer hair. I started letting my eyes wonder away from the stage, over to where the band was sitting.

They sat in the same row, most of their admirers surrounded them, adoring their so-called 'hotness' and panting heavily. Antonio had his phone out and was texting vigorously every now and again, with a small smile etched on his face. I quickly glanced over to Lovino, who also had his phone out. No guesses to who they were texting.

Next to Antonio, Gilbert seemed to be drifting off, his head falling onto Antonio's shoulder every now and again, but Antonio kept pushing him off. Meanwhile, on the edge of the group, Francis was currently telling a, what seems like, very dramatic story to his band of followers. Each one seemed to sigh and near faint whenever Francis looked at one of them in the eye. I rolled my eyes and looked to where Alfred was currently sat, between a dozing Gilbert and a flirting Francis, all of his attention focused on a small device in his hands. He was stuck, right in the middle of things but, he didn't care. All he cared about was getting to the next level on his PSP game.

From what I had observed from Alfred from the past few weeks, he didn't soak up the fame he had, nor did he exploit it. He tried to be himself and tried to make his own efforts. I knew he was on the football team, but, from what I heard, he got on the team through sheer will and through his own efforts.

Alfred Jones was an enigma, wrapped up in a mystery.

But, I was also surprised that Alfred didn't mind his fans panting so hard they were fogging up his PSP screen. That is dedication to the people who buys your merchandise.

When the microphone was passed back to Mr Vargas, Gilbert was poked awake, Alfred saved up his game and turned off his handheld console and Francis stopped telling his elaborate tale to his onlookers. Antonio and Lovino ignored the fact that the head teacher had the microphone again and kept texting each other.

"Okay," Mr Vargas said, loudly and clearly, "As you guys know, the Halloween party is next week and the votes for the theme have just been counted up. We shall now announce the top five themes!" Mr Vargas stepped back slightly, towards the side of the stage as a large canvas was lowered down and the projector lit up the room. A small movie started, depicting small scenes from last year's party, to which the theme was, Hollywood movies. Students were dancing, smiling at the camera and having fun amongst themselves. The camera cut to a scene where a DJ was scratching on a large black record and then the film faded out.

"Our first category is," Mr Vargas waited for a minute when 'Vampires' came up onto the screen, "Vampires! Our next category is;" He continued this for the rest. Pirates came up on the screen with a small pirate doodle, then Gothic, then animals. I saw Lovino frown at a text he had gotten from Antonio when this category was revealed and a small blush dusted his cheekbones. The final category was superheroes and we were finished.

"So, those are our top five categories! We've counted the votes, and this year's Halloween theme is…" A drum roll started and a lot of people were on the edges of their seats. I don't see why this is such a big deal, I mean, Halloween is just some creepy tradition where children beg for sweets and chocolate off of strangers. When said children get older, they egg the houses of the people who won't give them chocolate.

True story.

It happened to me. My brother Scott then went out and chased them away.

Who needs the police when you've got an arse for an older brother?

Anyway, as the drum roll continued, I sat back in my chair and yawned. People nearby either shot me evil looks or just ignored me all together. I wasn't bothered about any of this. I don't think I would go to the stupid Halloween party anyway. None of those categories appeal to me, apart from, maybe…

"PIRATES!"

Bugger.

* * *

"Need I remind you that I am very limited on money?" I asked, my voice muffled as Francis and Lovino piled me under a mountain of costumes and necessary clothes. I carefully balanced the clothes in one hand and looked at the price of a hat and nearly fainted.

With the amount of money I had, there was no WAY I was going to be able to buy anything. I felt Feliciano throw a heavy coat onto the pile and I had to gip with both hands again.

We were currently in the town that was nearest the school, just a five minute's walk away and the place was just _crawling _with reporters. The place was nice enough, but now the whole school was out, trying to find something to wear for the Halloween dance. I was far from happy about all of this.

I suddenly felt a great weight lifted from my arms and Alfred smiled down at me as he took some of the load, and leaned down to my height.

"You looked like you needed some help," He said and I could feel a blush creeping up my face when I realised how close his face actually was from mine. That dream's going to be the death of me. It doesn't help that lately it's gotten more frequent… and more graphic. So, you can probably see the predicament that I've gotten myself into. I fought back the blush on my face and straighten up slightly.

"Thank you," I replied, keeping a straight face. Alfred grinned and walked away from me and over to where Francis, Antonio and Gilbert were gossiping together. Bloody wankers.

"I think we have enough now!" Antonio called to Lovino who was staring indecisively with his brother at a pair of jeans. The older Italian twin rolled his eyes.

"Bastard, when it comes to clothes, you can never have enough," He replied and we all shook our heads, except Feliciano. We started to head over to the tills and Lovino, reluctantly, put back the pair of jeans, grabbed his brother's wrist and followed up. Alfred and I dumped the clothes down on the counter and the astonished woman started to scan the mountain of clothes for barcodes.

"I won't be able to buy anything," I warned them, "I don't seem to have enough money,"

"It's okay, bro," Alfred said, "We got this," I stared at him in confusion, "We wanna you to come with us to the party, but you can't go without a costume, so we're all chipping in to buy you one,"

Okay, they may be rich and somewhat selfish, but at least they look after me.

Eventually, the cashier finished scanning the labels and put all of the clothes into large, paper bags. Alfred, Antonio, Francis and Lovino all got sunglasses out of their pockets and put them on.

"We're going to get mobbed again," Feliciano gulped, "Aren't we?"

"Shut up Feli," Lovino snapped as he grabbed a few of the bags. Alfred put his arm around me, as if to protect me from the world's horrors and we headed on out. Reporters were suddenly upon us like flies to a carcass as we walked out of the shop. Lights flashed blindingly from the cameras and microphones were thrust into our faces.

"Alfred!" Some of them cried, "How do you feel that Prince Jesse Orto Mizzi the third is attending Hetalia Academy?"

"Who's your friend Alfred?"

"What's your relationship with him?"

"Give us a smile, Al!"

Bloody hell.

My mum and brother were going to see this. Weren't they?

* * *

**Hey readers! *waves***

**I plan to have the next chapter (the Halloween chapter) up on the 31st! Which is hard, considering that I have shit to do and... yeah...**

**But anyway! The theme of the Halloween party shall be pirates yarrrr! (Which will be totally awesome) But be expecting a few surprises for the next chapter including; A drunk Arthur, two make out sessions, three epic songs from Clubs and Diamonds, four sexy and hot band members with shirt that cannot contain how awesome they are and an introduction of a rather *ahem* crazy manager.  
**

**Have a good day and remember to reveiw!**

***Gangnam styles out* (Except, I can't do the gangnam style...)**


	8. This Is Halloween

**I'm gonna be honest. I don't really like Halloween… I'm not keen on scary things.**

**Disclaimer: Я не являюсь владельцем Hetalia**** (Become one with mother Russia, da?****)**

**P.S. I know that Mr Tim Burton doesn't sing this, but ya know. He made the Nightmare Before Christmas sooooo… yeah.**

* * *

Chapter Eight

This is Halloween

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_Pumpkins scream in the dead of night_

_This is Halloween, everybody make a scene_

_Trick or treat will the neighbours gonna die of fright_

_It's our town, everybody scream_

_In this town of Halloween_

_(Tim Burton)_

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time I told you about one of the biggest mistakes of my life: My first Halloween party at Hetalia Academy.

I did a lot of things that night that I wasn't proud of. The source of it all? The small bottle of whiskey in Gilbert's coat pocket.

But let me start at the beginning of that horridly eventful day, when I was sat in the cafeteria, reading 'The Great Gatsby' while sipping on my normal cup of morning tea. We had our normal classes off that day, so that we could prepare for the dance this evening, so the cafeteria was practically empty, apart from a few groups of people who weren't asleep. I had seen Ludwig come in to grab a bottle of water after his morning workout and we chatted briefly about tonight. He had told me that Feliciano was forcing him to go and the Gilbert was definitely planning something bad (You can guess), but apart from him, I saw no one I knew that well or wanted to strike up a conversation with.

I was nearing the final chapter in my book when the doors slammed open and a very annoying and flustered Jesse stood in the doorway, his baby blue eyes scanning the room until the stopped and met mine. He stormed through the hall, a crumbled magazine held tightly in his fists. He stopped at my table and slammed the paper down in front of me. I lowered my book and raised an eyebrow at him. He looked close to bursting into tears.

"What is this?" He demanded through his teeth as he took his hand from the magazine. I saw that the magazine was one that the Gossips loved to pour over on a normal day, with a pink front cover and large yellow block capitals spelling out; "IS THIS AL'S NEW GUY? P.18!" I saw a picture of myself, looking down at the ground with a large red blush on my face, with Alfred's arm wrapped around my shoulders as he led me out of that shop we were in a few days ago. I put my book down on the table and flicked the magazine open to page eighteen.

Lo and behold, a large double page about Alfred's new 'fiery little Brit' (Really? They could have come up with something more suited to my personality than fiery!) I scanned the article quickly and saw that they got an anonymous tip from someone that Alfred had a new love in his life. My lips curled in disgust. How could anyone write such crap about me? I felt Jesse yank the magazine away from me, leaving me with small, stinging paper cuts on my fingers and I glanced up at the bitter look on his face.

"I told you to stay away from him," He hissed, "Alfred F Jones is mine, do you get me? I love him with every being of my body, so don't intend to give him up to any filthy scum that's been pitied into staying here," I saw tears start to run down his face, before he turned promptly on his heels and slither from the hall.

I grabbed my book, stood up and went in the opposite direction that Jesse just went. I would take the long way to my apartment. As I walked up to the door of my room, I saw a little envelope tucked under the mat. I pulled the envelope out and saw that it was from the office. Inside, I saw a small note saying;

"Your brother, Scott, called the school and requests that you call him as soon as you can," I read the card a few times and sighed. I opened the door to my room and dumped my book down on the coffee table, still staring at the card. I felt something rub up against my leg and saw Merlin looking up at me. I sighed and looked back at the door.

"Come on," I said to Merlin, "Let's go see Alfred and Hero," Merlin jumped into my arms and I left my room, to look towards the door next to mine. I petted at Merlin's fur and took a deep breath. I balanced my cat and the letter in one hand and knocked on the wooden door. After no answer, I knocked again, slightly louder this time.

"Yeah, gimme a second!" I heard from inside and then a loud crash and the yowl of a cat. I hope Hero was alright...

The door suddenly swung open to reveal a very tired and rather grouchy looking Alfred F Jones. He was in his pyjamas (A pair of baggy jogging bottoms) and that was it. His glasses were gone, leaving him looking younger and more of his actual age. He ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed. Merlin wriggled out of my arms and walked into Alfred's room, probably to find Hero.

"You're mobile can do international calls, right?" I asked and he looked at me in confusion.

"Wha?" He asked, while rubbing at one of his sapphire eyes with the palm of his hand.

"You're mobile? You're cell phone? It does international calls, right?" He nodded as he yawned loudly, "Can I borrow it?" He blinked hard and walked back into his room, leaving the door open for me and muttered something. I went in and closed the door behind me.

Alfred passed me his mobile phone and sat down on the couch, starting to go through his post. I saw multiple magazines; including one that Jesse had shown me. I looked away from Al and dialled in the number I had memorised months ago. I put the phone to my ear and let it ring. What time would it be back home? About midday? Maybe later? After a minute, my brother picked up.

"Well, well, well," He said, his voice thick with that Scottish accent that he had gained recently, "If it isn't the family celebrity. How's the high life? Or does it hurt considering that your boyfriend's fucking you up the arse every night?" I took a deep, shaky breath in.

"Alfred isn't my boyfriend," I looked towards where said person was sitting. He was reading the article that Jesse had near been sobbing over, with little interest, "The magazine lied,"

"Oh, but the picture cannot lie, little brother," Scott sneered and I heard him inhale, most likely from a cigarette and then exhale, "After all, you do look so cute in this one, what with his arm around you and you blushing like a virgin..." His voice drifted off, "Why did I have to get stuck with a brother like you, eh? So weak and feminine." I sucked air in through my nose in displeasure at what my brother was saying. I wasn't weak! I wasn't feminine either!

"Does mum know?" I asked and I heard him chuckle.

"I did you a favour, little brother. I told mum nothing. She doesn't read those types of magazines anyway," I let out a sigh of relief. Thank fucking God! "But, little brother, you owe me big time. You know how mum feels about the famous,"

"I know," I sighed, "I didn't know he was famous at first," I heard Scott scoff.

"How didn't you know? He's famous, little brother!"

"You know me, Scott," I muttered, "I don't pay attention to the media either,"

"You stay friends with this guy?"

"Well, I can't get rid of him, can I?" I looked over at Alfred, who had now dropped the magazines and was staring back at me, "So, yes, Scott, I will be staying friends with Alfred and the rest of Clubs and Diamonds," Alfred jumped up from the sofa, and enveloped me in a hug, "I'll talk to you soon, Scott," I said and hung up the phone. I dropped the phone onto the floor, not caring if it broke as Alfred tightened his chock hold on me.

"You're going to be the death of me, Alfred F Jones," I said as I hugged him back, "You know that, right?"

"I know," He said and lifted his head from my shoulder, "But you chose this life," He grinned, "Thank you,"

"It's fine," I said and blushed slightly, "You would've still wanted to hang out with me at lunch and break times anyway," He grinned, nodded and then lent down slightly and pressed a small kiss on my cheek. I blushed an even brighter shade of red and looked towards the sofa, where Hero and Merlin were curled up together, purring loudly and happily.

* * *

It was later that night when things started messing up badly for me. You see, I had just gotten changed into my pirate's costume (a white shirt, a long pirate coat going down to my knees, a pair of black trousers, a pair of boots that went over my knees and a hat) when I saw Lovino and Matthew talking down the corridor. They both saw me and smiled.

"Hey," Matthew smiled and I nodded to both of them. We made brief conversation and made our way to the hall where the dance was being held. Black and orange bunting was hung around the room, along with large clusters of fake cobwebs around the ceiling. A long table sat towards the right of the hall, a black tablecloth and bowls of snacks and nibbles sat atop it, along with a large bowl of fruit punch. The lights were dimmed and spotlighted on the stage and the dance floor.

A lot of students were already dancing to the music that was booming from a large stereo that sat on the stage. In the crowd, I saw Feliciano randomly jumping around with a big smile on his face. He waved over towards the edge of the crowd to where Ludwig and Kiku were standing, both with a glass of punch in their hands. Kiku and Ludwig both waved back and went back to their conversations. I heard Lovino sigh.

"My fratello is such a freak," He muttered, barely audible over the music. I rolled my eyes as we started walking over to the long table. I got myself a drink of the punch and sipped it as we scanned the crowd. I saw my homeroom teacher, Tino, and Mr Berwald Oxenstierna conversing quietly on the other side of the hall by the doors. Mr Oxenstierna was keeping a close eye on the dancing students, just in case. Down the hall from them, I saw Ivan and Yao standing nearer the stage. They stood too close together to be normal and Ivan was leaning down slightly as they spoke in hushed words. I shrugged this off as more and more people came into the hall.

Soon enough, most of the first and seconds years were crammed into the hall (Apparently the third and forth years were having their own party in their dorm building) and dancing.

The music suddenly died down and the crowd on the dance floor stopped in confusion and looked up towards the stage. The lights dimmed over more, leaving just the stage lit up. From behind the curtain, Alfred emerged, a large grin spread over his face. He wore a loose white shirt, to which the front was cut open, revealing a large amount of tanned chest and collar bone, a pair of brown trousers and calf high boots. A red bandana was currently on his head, however that small, rebellious lock of gold still stuck up. A very loud cheer went up when he came onto the stage.

"Hey," He smiled into a microphone, "How are you all?" An even louder cheer erupted from his adoring fans. His smile widened, "You're all looking very nice tonight. I love the pirate theme," He said as the crowd quietened slightly, "So, me and the gang went away and we asked ourselves, 'what's a good pirate song that everyone'll love?'"

"We found one!" We heard a voice and Francis, Gilbert and Antonio came rushing out onto the stage. They were all dressed in the same way as Alfred, but their bandanas were different colours and Francis wasn't wearing one, instead, he had his hair tied back in a large blue ribbon. Antonio had a piece of paper in his hand and gave it to Alfred.

Okay, I'm sorry but they were obviously acting. However, the audience didn't notice this and drank it all up in big, long gulps.

As Alfred looked at the paper, his grin decreased to a half smile, the corner of his lip tugging upwards.

"This is it!" He cried and the crowd cheered. Gilbert ran to the back of the stage to the drum kit and took a seat. Antonio and Francis picked up some guitars from the side of the stage and Alfred pulled a small ukulele out of nowhere. He put the microphone into a stand and then started to strum at the small instrument.

"This water is too salty," He sang, "For us to even drink," Gilbert started to tap a beat in now as they continued on. The song was about a pirate who fell in love with another pirate and dies because of it, because they were both men. Bloody hell, it's so typical for this place! They leapt into the chorus, Francis and Antonio joining in with the song, both singing and playing their guitars, and, as they played, I noticed why they were so famous. They were good. They were really, really good.

"Yo ho Sebastian! Let's go far away! Somewhere where the Captain won't be mad!" They all sang, as some people on the dance floor started moving lightly to the music. This wasn't the type of music you could really dance to, but they were trying anyway. I poured myself another glass of punch and sipped it as I watched the band finish up the song. As the crowd shouted and cheered for more, Alfred switched instruments from the ukulele to a red electric guitar and plucked at the strings for a second, checking the tuning.

"Okay, our next song is from one of our earlier albums and I'm pretty sure you'll know it," He grinned and they burst into song. This song was a lot more upbeat than their first one and the audience was singing along with them. This one was about a girl, growing up with big dreams of getting to Hollywood from a small town.

"Small town girl," The chorus went, "Letting dreams unfurl, of livin' the high life and me bein' by your side. Ohhh. When you're livin' large, and when you're a star, won't you please let me, be by your side?"

I'm pretty sure I'd heard this on the radio once or twice before, but they were still good. No wonder they were famous.

The song started building to the climax and I looked over at the crowds. Across the hall, a small group of the Royalty were standing, all standing closely to each other and whispering things into each other's ears. They suddenly looked over at me and I looked down at my drink, not wanting to be disturbed. I looked back up at the stage, when I saw two of them coming towards me. They stood about a foot in front of me and glared at me.

"Is it true?" One of them asked and I blinked. Please don't let them be talking about- "The magazine? Were they telling the truth?"

"No," I said bluntly and took my gaze from them to the stage.

"You think you're so special don't you?" The other asked and I looked back at them, my expression blank, "Just because you were accepted into an elite school, doesn't mean you're one of us,"

"I don't know what you're on about," I said. From the crowd, I saw Lovino stop dancing with his brother (Who dragged him out after the first song) and make his way back towards me. When he got through the crowd, he grabbed his glass of punch and downed it.

"You know," The first one spat, "Just because Alfred lets you hang out with the-"

"Doesn't mean I should let it go to my head. Yes, yes, I've had it all before," I sighed, "Really though, I'm getting sick of it all!" Both of my verbal attackers wrinkled their noses.

"Filthy commoner," One of them spat and Lovino put his glass back down on the table. He spun around and glared at the two.

"Don't speak to my friend like that," He said, "If anyone's filthy here, it's you two. Filthy rich royalty," The music stopped, leaving the hall a lot quieter.

"Better being filthy rich than a filthy street rat," One spat, his nose held high. People started looking our way.

"You're the rat!" Lovino snapped back and I put a hand on his shoulder, telling him to quit it, "No!" He protested, "They can't tell you what to do! No one likes them! They're jealous that you're friends with Alfred!" At the mention of his name, Alfred looked our direction, his mouth forming a 'o' shape as he stopped fiddling with his guitar amp.

"Please," The second scoffed, "If anyone is unlikeable here, it's you Lovino Vargas. Goodness, even your own grandfather prefers your brother to you!"

That, ladies and gentlemen, was when Lovino snapped. He stepped forward, his fist raised and brought it down on the Royal's sharp cheekbone. The Royal fell back against his companion, causing him to stagger back as he tried to balance both of them. I saw Antonio leap from the stage, his guitar swung around so that it was over his shoulder as Lovino went in to hurt the Royal some more.

"SHUT UP!" Lovino screamed, and tried to beat some more sense into the rich bastard. He started shouting in Italian as Antonio finally reached us and dragged Lovino back. Picking him up, Antonio took Lovino from the hall, whispering soothing Spanish words into his ear.

Some music started playing over the stereo to distract the rest of the world from what had just happened. Everyone else started dancing again to the Lady Gaga song that was pounding from the stereo, but the two rich bastards just stared at me with bitter looks in their eyes and disgust on their faces. I then turned away from them and went in the direction that Antonio had taken Lovino.

* * *

I eventually found the two in the dressing room used for the stage performances that the drama club held every year. Antonio was sat on a bench, his back against the wall and Lovino sat in his lap, his arms draped around the Spaniard's shoulders and their lips were pressed together in a passionate kiss.

I knew it.

"Are you okay, Lovino?" I asked and they broke apart with a jump, both looking up at me with startled eyes.

"What the fuck, Arthur?!" Lovino cried and buried his face in Antonio's neck. Antonio laughed and patted Lovino's head. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on here?" I asked and Lovino raised his head from Antonio's neck briefly to tell Antonio to explain.

"Well," Antonio sighed when Lovino put his head back in his neck, "Lovino and I are dating,"

I knew it.

"But it's a secret," Antonio explained, "We've been sneaking around for a while now,"

I knew it. It was so obvious! Antonio adored Lovino to no end and Lovino… well… Lovino cared in his own little way.

"No one knows about us," Lovino muttered, "Please don't tell anyone," I nodded. Unfortunately there was someone behind me, who probably wouldn't keep quiet. I heard a sharp, high pitched squeal and a woman with long brown hair and wearing a black skirt suit ran up beside me and smiled at the two.

"I knew it!" She cried, "This is so adorable! The best! Wait until the press hear about this! Ah! I can see the headlines now! Band's Guitarist Falls Hard For His Italian Beauty!" She continued screeching until Antonio moved Lovino from his lap, walked up to the woman and put a hand on her head.

"Señorita," Antonio said, "Please, we really don't want the world to know about this," The woman looked up at Antonio and smiled.

"I got it," She said and tapped her nose, "You're not getting anything out me!"

"Excuse me," I interrupted and everyone looked at me, "But, who is this?"

"This," Lovino explained as he walked up next to Antonio, "Is a gay man's worst nightmare,"

"I wouldn't say nightmare, Lovi," She smiled and then turned to me, "Elizabeta Héderváry, manager to Clubs and Diamond," She pulled a small card out of her breast pocket and handed it to me, "My card, sweetie," She then turned back to the two, "Have you guys done it yet?" Lovino's face immediately brightened.

"No! You sick woman! Don't ask us that!" He said, and Antonio patted his head with a smile. I rolled my eyes and put the card in my pocket. Elizabeta then turned to me again.

"Aren't you Alfred's new friend?" She asked and I nodded, "Ah, he keeps talking about you, it's always Arthur this and Arthur that! I swear, if that boy hasn't fallen for you by now then I don't know when he will!" A blushed unwillingly formed on my face and I took a deep breath in.

"Excuse me, I need to get back to the party," I said and then looked at Lovino and Antonio, "I won't tell anyone," Antonio wrapped an arm around Lovino's shoulders and gave me a thumbs up. I turned on my heels and returned back to the hall.

* * *

I sat by myself at a small table far away from the crowded dance floor. I had a small glass of punch cradled in my hands and I was feeling sorry for myself.

Everyone here hated me, didn't they?

Who was I kidding? I didn't belong here at all! I wasn't rich, I wasn't famous and my parents weren't important in any way to the world. My dad… well, he wasn't the best of influences and my mum, though being kind and gentle, hid away from any attention.

I stared down at my drink.

Urgh.

Clubs and Diamonds had just finished a third song; another one of their own but a newer track. The party was reaching its high. Most of the first and second years were dancing up a storm and the ones who had been on the floor earlier on were now resting by the sideline and chatting vigorously with each other.

I felt someone sit down next to me and I looked up to see the blood red eyes of our Prussian (Don't ask, he keeps insisting) friend. He smirked at me.

"What's got you down?" He asked and I sighed.

"Nothing of importance," I muttered. There was silence for a few moments and then I felt him shift slightly and a small, cold bottle was pressed into one of my hands. It was a silver hip flask, and it glinted and winked at me under the dull lights.

"Just a little something to perk you up," He said and then left. I stared at it. I put my glass down and unscrewed the top and took a sniff. I wrinkled my nose.

I smelt like alcohol.

I know that my brother drank alcohol (irresponsibly) a lot, but I had never drunk any for myself.

So, I put the flask to my lips and took a big gulp.

I took it away immediately, because the liquid felt like it was burning my mouth. It was strong, but something in my head told me to take another sip, so I did. Again, and again, and again until the flask was empty.

I started feeling… weird and… I don't know… my head was starting to feel a little funny, and the room started to spin after a few minutes. I put my head down on the table and closed my eyes, trying to get the spinning to stop.

After a while (a good twenty to thirty minutes), I felt someone sit down next to me and I cracked open an eye to see the sparkling grin of Alfred. I pulled my head up and smiled at him. Hmmm… he looked nice.

"Are you enjoying to party?" He asked and I nodded, "Did you like the music? We tried really hard to find that first song, and we wanted to do a cover version, so we had to ask Elizabeta… oh! That's our manager… to see if she could get into contact with…" The rest of his words were muffled as my eyes drifted lower from his face and down towards his collar bone. Without thinking, I leant towards him and nuzzled his chest, taking in the smell of his cologne and the sweat that he had worked up.

"What are you doing?" He asked and I looked up at him with a smile.

"Nothing," I slurred and sat up, my face close to his, "You're handsome, aren't you?" I saw him blush as I moved a hand up to play with his shirt, right where it opened to show his chest. I moved up and (Again, not thinking properly) kissed him.

You have to realise that I wasn't in the best of states when I did this and I think Alfred realised this too, because he didn't move against me and when I pulled back, my eyes half shut, he got up from his chair, grabbed the hip flask by my arm and stormed over to Gilbert. I watched with a small smile on my face as there were hushed, angry voices between the two and Matthew, who had been talking with Gilbert, gasped in shock, slapped Gilbert's arm and then looked at me in worry. I just swayed in my seat.

Antonio and Lovino came over, wanting to know what was going on and then Francis joined the conversation, with a wicked grin and a (shudder) flirtatious wink to me. I put my head back down on the table, smiling over at Alfred as he came and tugged at my sleeve.

"Artie, I'm taking you back to your room now," He said and pulled me up. I fell back down. Alfred dragged me up again and wrapped an arm around my waist to balance me. After a brief good bye to some of his fans, he managed to half guide half force me back to my room.

When we got there, he unlocked the door and near threw me down onto the bed, I tried to cling onto him, but he pulled my hands away. He got a large glass of water and some pills and put them on my bedside table (To which I would be grateful in the morning for) and a bucket from underneath the kitchen sink and put it on the floor near my bed. He then stripped me off my hat and boot and pulled the covers over me, all the while muttering about killing Gilbert.

"I'll take Merlin to my place," He said, "So you won't have to remember to feed him in the morning and so that he won't disturb you during the night," As he turned to leave, I grabbed at the end of his shirt and he looked at me.

"I don't belong here," I whispered, "Do I?" He stood there for a second, processing this. It was an odd scene, in the dark, two pirates, one horribly drunk and the other being uncharacteristically sensible.

Alfred then leaned down and pressed a kiss to my temple.

"You belong here, Arthur Kirkland," He said, "We need you here," I then started drifting off and he said something else, but by the time he pressed another kiss to my head, I was already asleep.

I didn't find out until years later what he said to me that night and, even now, it still warms my heart.

"I need you here, Arthur."

That's what he said.

* * *

**Twelve bloody pages and nearly five thousand words.**

**I deserve a freaking medal!**

**Anyway, Halloween was good, etc, etc, my friends went trick or treating and I stayed home like a loner because I can.**

**So there you go. I gave you a drunk Arthur, two make our sessions, three epic songs, four hot band members and the introduction of Clubs and Diamond's manager, Hungary (As if I'd leave her out of this!)**

**So… Happy Halloween and I hope my American readers (On the east coast) are okay, because I've seen on the news what Hurricane Sandy has done and… I don't even want to think about it.**

**Well… peace out guys. *brain melts***


	9. About A Girl

**Dudes! Thank you for so many reviews and favourites for the last chapter *Rolls around* *Flails* *Jumps off a cliff* *Eats a ton of chocolate***

**Disclaimer: Ik heb geen Hetalia (Dutch)**

* * *

Chapter Nine

About A Girl

_You don't know about a girl_

_I'll take over the world,_

_And I'm gonna party like oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!_

_You don't know about a girl_

_The meaning of the world,_

'_Cos we just wanna party like oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!_

_(Sugababes)_

The next few weeks after the Halloween party were just awkward. Not just for me, but for all of us.

One of the biggest problems was because of Antonio and Lovino's secret. Lovino was getting increasingly paranoid about the fact that Antonio's manager and I knew about them. He was now constantly trying to push Antonio off him more than usual. Antonio was also getting very frustrated by this. This was because, the more Lovino pushed him off, the less hugs he was getting and this was causing him to get upset.

I'm pretty sure that Lovino was making it even more obvious to everyone that something was going on and Feliciano often had to engage Lovino in something he liked to call 'hug therapy'.

It didn't work very well.

However, something rather eventful happened between Alfred and I about a fortnight after the Halloween party (which I swore that I would never bring up again, in my life. The Halloween party, that is, not what I'm about to tell you).

On the top floor of main classroom buildings, in the east wing, a large room sat with no obvious purpose. The walls were covered in deep crimson red wall paper and two of the walls were completely covered by large bookcases. Some threadbare, yet surprisingly comfy chairs dotted the room and, in the centre of it all, an old pool table stood. This room served no function to the school's teachings or classrooms.

So, to the students, this single room came to be known as the common rooms. It was a place where you could sit back, relax and just forget about the burden of being rich or famous.

Not that a lot of people complained of course.

"Antonio," Francis said to a rather glum looking Spaniard, "It's your turn," Antonio picked up his cue and looked at the multicoloured balls on the table in front of him, "So," Francis continued and looked back at me. I was currently sitting in one of the comfy chairs, a large, leather bind book in my lap. I glanced up from the yellowed pages and saw Francis smirking at me. Across the room, I saw Gilbert and Matthew watching us and Feliciano and Ludwig sat together, a drink in the Italian's hands. They were all quiet, except for the soft 've' sounds that Feliciano often makes, "Why did you kiss Alfred?" I shut the book.

"Because I was intoxicated with a large amount of whisky," I said with a sigh. Francis smirked even more as Antonio finished his go and let the French wanker have his turn. Francis lent over the pool table, aiming carefully and shot a striped ball into one of the middle pockets.

"Oui," He said as he got up and went for another go, "But you wouldn't have kissed him without a reason for doing so. For example, I remember one time; Gilbert tried to make out with Mathieu after a few too many drink and almost got punched by him, all because he had such a crush on him!"

"Hey!" Gilbert cried and wrapped an arm around the blond Canadian, "It worked, didn't it?" I looked at Matthew.

"You're dating him?" I asked and he nodded shyly, "You poor thing," I tore my gaze from a slightly red Matthew and a grinning Gilbert and looked back over at Francis, who had a fox-like smile on his face.

"There's always a reason," Francis said as he went to have another shot. The cue hit one of the striped balls, but didn't fall into one of the pockets. He stood up straight again and looked me in the eye. The dreams started to creep back up into my memory. I blushed lightly at the gasps, the groans, and the feel of Alfred's fingers as they lightly traced small patterns into my skin. But what always got me the most in those dreams, was the way Alfred's eyes always looked. His sapphire blue eyes would always seem so intense, filled with lust and want and something I could never put my finger on. To me, his eyes always looked sad or miserable.

Francis saw the light blush on my face and chuckled. I shook my head and forced the redness from my cheeks.

"There's no reason," I firmly said. Francis didn't look convinced.

"So why did you kiss him?" A small voice perked up and we all looked at Feliciano, surprised that he had even said anything or was actually following a conversation that didn't involve the mention of pasta, kittens or anything Italian. I grabbed the cue from Francis' hands and jumped up onto the pool table. I aimed towards the black ball and then shrugged.

"Because," I sighed, "I seem to do rather impulsive things when I'm drunk," I pulled the cue back and pocketed the black ball.

* * *

There were a few things that I didn't know about the band, Clubs and Diamonds. For example, I didn't know that they had formed fairly recently, but had taken the entire world by storm, they also played any genre of music and that they had a rival band.

Yes, Clubs and Diamonds had a rival band. Made up of the five most devious girls (Yes, girls) in the world, they were a force to be reckoned with. How do I know this? Well, I was kind of kidnapped by them.

It started the morning after the confrontation in the common rooms and I was just coming out of my room. I placed my bag on the hallway floor, and locked the door when I was suddenly scooped up into a large sack. I heard a giggle, which obviously wasn't male.

"We got Arthur!" A very female voice cried and I was suddenly wacked against something, probably someone's back.

"Let's just get out of here before someone questions why I have Alfred's boyfriend in a sack," Other voice (Male this time) replied. I started kicking against the bag.

"Put me down!" I screamed, "I am not Alfred's boyfriend!"

"Tell that to the gossip magazines," The man replied, shaking the bag a bit. I kept quiet for the rest of the journey, often muttering something disapproving at my kidnappers, especially when the sack bumped against the man's back.

However, soon enough I was turned upside down and I was tipped onto a soft, carpeted floor. I rubbed my now sore head and looked up at my kidnappers. I found myself in Mr Vargas's office, with four girls smiling down at me with trouble bubbling in their bright eyes. Behind them, I saw two older boys, both with disagreeable looks on their faces. The taller one had light brown hair, which was spiked up by hair gel, greenish eyes and a scar on his forehead. He kept twiddling a pencil in his fingers and often stopped and tapped the dull end to his lips. This man was obviously craving for a cigarette. The other man was shorter, just a year older than me, with short light blond hair; bright green eyes and had a very bored yet protecting expression on his face.

They both reminded me of loyal and protective guard dogs.

The four girls standing in front of me varied in ages. The youngest; a girl with hair short golden hair, a purple ribbon threaded through the locks; looked like she was only thirteen years old. She wore a purple dress that came down to her knees, which made her look even younger. The next girl looked to be around fifteen. She had long black hair which cascaded down her back like a waterfall of ebony and, from the front of her hair, a long curled strand protruded, very similar to Matthew's, but much longer. Her eyes were a chocolate brown with a mischievous twinkle in them. She wore a pair of dark jeans with a pink, flowery top, which made her look more mature that the rest of the girls.

The third girl was one of the shortest, with big green eyes, a cat like smile and green ribbon to keep her dark blonde hair from her face. She giggled slightly as she pulled her demon skirt down slightly. I recognised that giggle. She was the one who helped put me in that sack! The last girl was the oldest of the four, about sixteen, with long brunette hair, pulled back into two pigtails with long scarlet ribbons. She wore a floaty, blue top and very short denim shorts, which revealed long legs made of bronze. This last girl left little to the imagination.

"Brilliant!" The girl with the long legs smirked, "We have them all!" She strutted past me and I looked around to see Matthew, Feliciano and Lovino, each tied to a chair. The three were obviously not happy about it all, as Matthew had an annoyed look on his face, Feliciano was crying a river and Lovino nearly had steam coming out of his ears.

"Untie me!" Lovino demanded, "Or you'll have an angry Spaniard to deal with!" The girl with the green ribbon giggled and stepped forwards, "Bella, you know it!" She delicately ran her fingers over the curl on Lovino's head and, almost immediately, Lovino whimpered, and went bright red in the face.

"Oh, but that's the plan," Another voice came and I saw another man standing between the two who were already there, as though he had magically appeared from nowhere. He had brown hair, red eyes, almost rivalling those of Gilbert, and pale skin. The wide grin on his face reveals two pointed canine teeth. For some reason, he reminded me of a vampire…

"Lars, Vash. Tie him up," The 'vampire' commanded and the two men swooped down on me, grabbing me by the arms and forcing me to sit in a chair. They then forced by hands behind my back, tied ropes around my wrists and tied my ankles to two of the chair legs.

"Who are you?" I asked when Vash and Lars had successfully finished tying me to the chair. The vampire stepped forwards.

"My name is Vladimir Popescu and I am the manger of the world famous girl group, Upgraded Resistance," He bowed to me, still flashing those pointed, deadly canines at me.

Upgraded Resistance, where had I heard that name before?

"The group consists of Lily, Bella, Mei and Michelle," He explained, pointing to the girls in turn and then pointed his thumb back at Lars and Vash, "Lars and Vash. Lars is Bella's older brother and Lily is Vash's little sister," He then spun on his heels and looked at Michelle. "You can call them now, 'Chelle!" Michelle nodded and headed towards the Principal's desk.

Where was Mr Vargas?!

She switched on the intercom system and cleared her throat.

"Bonjour, Hetalia Academy," She cooed, a French accent slipping from her tongue, "I am requesting the members of Clubs and Diamonds to come up to the Principal's office as soon as possible, oui? My friends and I have –ah- something to return to you boys," She walked up to Lovino, still with the microphone to the intercom, and threw her arm around his shoulders, "Isn't that right, Lovi?"

"Antonio, get me the fuck out of here right now. I am tied to a chair!" I rolled my eyes as Michelle passed the microphone to Bella.

"I do believe that the boys aren't very happy at the moment," Bella said as she walked up to Matthew, "How do you feel Matthew?"

"My wrists hurt," He muttered and Bella shrugged her shoulders. She then spotted Feliciano, who was still crying, his bottom lip wobbling and a whimper escaping his lips every now and again. She smiled at him and took the microphone over to him.

"Why are you crying?" She asked and Lovino started thrashing against his ropes.

"He talks with his hands you cagna (bitch)!" Lovino shouted, "You tied him up and now he can't talk!" Bella moved her hands to touch Feliciano's curl and Lovino exploded. Italian curses were flying everywhere, but Bella ignored them and moved her hand away from Feliciano's hair and moved on to me.

"So, Eyebrows," She grinned, poking my cheek lightly, "How are you?"

"What is this?" I asked, "An interview or something?"

"You could call it that," She said, in a too-sweet-and-therefore-sickly voice. I frowned.

"If you think that me being here will lure Alfred, Francis, Gilbert and Antonio out from wherever they are, then you're mistaken," I said and she looked confused, "Don't involve me with what goes on in the band. I'm not involved with that,"

"But, you're Alfred's boyfriend, aren't you?"

"I'm not. Stop reading those idiotic articles, they hide the truth. They only want to see as many copies as possible," I nearly snarled at them, "So just leave me alone,"

"Boys, get your butts up here!" Bella said into the microphone and then turned the intercom system off. She passed the microphone to Lily and then smirked at me, "Get the tape!"

* * *

So, let's review the situation, shall we?

I'm sitting in Mr Vargas's office and tied to a chair. I was thrown into a sack this morning and I announced to the whole school that I wasn't to be involved with anything that Clubs and Diamonds were doing and now my mouth was taped over with duct tape!

I never should have gotten out of bed…

The fortunate thing is is that, a few minutes after the intercom 'interview', Ludwig burst into the office, quickly followed by Antonio, Gilbert, Francis and Alfred. Ludwig made a bee-line for Feliciano, tied him up and dragged him from the office as Feliciano started babbling in Italian to him. As soon as the door slammed close again, the four band members looked at the girls and frowned.

"Fucking hell, Antonio!" Lovino cried, "What took you so long?!" Antonio's eyes landed on the tied up and fuming Italian and immediately rushed over to him, and untied the ropes that were holding Lovino to his chair. As soon as the ropes were undone, Antonio wrapped his arms around Lovino and kissed him on the cheek.

"Lovi~~ I missed you~~" Antonio sang as Lovino struggled against the chock hold that the Spaniard had on him. Our attention was brought back to Vladimir as he walked up to the three other, his grin still present on his face.

"Boys!" He cried, as he shook hands with Alfred, "Good to see you again! Sorry to go to such drastic measures to get you here, but the girls are rather lively today," Francis crept behind Vladimir and slyly approached Michelle.

"Michelle!" He cried and grabbed her hand to kiss it. She swiped it back before his lips even touched it, "It's been too long chérie!" Michelle sat on the Principal's deck and crossed her mile long legs. Francis's eyes innocently wandered down to them quickly and then back up to Michelle's face.

"Not long enough," She said, looking slightly bored.

"Michelle! Why must you hurt me so?" Francis asked, looking slightly downhearted.

"Because you're annoying," Michelle replied smoothly and slid from the desk, joining where Lily and Mei were standing.

"So, anyway," Alfred said, "Why did you tie these guys up and why does Artie have tape over his mouth?"

"It was to shut him up," Bella sighed, "He got slightly annoying after a while,"

"We brought you up here to strike a deal with you," Vladimir explained, "A charity came up to us a few weeks ago, asking us if we could do a charity CD to help them raise money for their latest campaign. We think that the charity will get even more money if you do half the songs on the album, the girls will do the other half and then you all do a single together," There was a small pause when Gilbert spoke up.

"Was that it?" He asked and Vladimir sighed.

"Da. I tried to contact your manager, but she's blocked my calls, that cățea (bitch)" He said and all four of Clubs and Diamonds grinned at him.

"We'll do it," Alfred said, "Anything for a charity,"

Soon enough, we were all untied and the girls apologised for kidnapping us.

"Although," Mei smiled, "I believe that getting Feliciano up to the office was the easiest," Feliciano and Ludwig had come back into the room when they realised that there was no significant danger and when Feliciano had stopped babbling and sobbing, "Lily just went up to him, asked him where Mr Vargas' office was and he just brought her up here. We then pounced on him and tied him to the chair," Ludwig looked at Feliciano in anger.

"Ve? Luddy? Luddy, where are you going, ve?" Feliciano ran out of the room when Ludwig exited. He was obvious very annoyed at how gullible the Italian was.

The girls and Vladimir then left in a flourish of kisses, waves, giggles and hitting Francis on the head. As soon as they were out of the office, Alfred let out a sigh of relief.

"Dude, did anyone else think that Vlad was gonna suck our blood?" He asked and there was a wave of agreement. Everyone started leaving the Principal's office and I was just heading down some stairs when a loud voice stopped me.

"Dude! Dude!" Alfred cried as he grabbed my shoulder, "I just had the most amazing idea! You're not doing anything for Thanksgiving, are ya?"

"It's you, not ya and no, I'm not doing anything for Thanksgiving as I don't celebrate it," I replied, getting slightly peeved at his grammar.

"Okay, well, why don't you come to mine?" He asked and I stood there for a moment.

"Come to yours as in… your home?" I asked and Alfred nodded keenly, "I don't know Alfred. Plane tickets cost a lot and I was hoping to do some studying during the week's break,"

"I'll pay for your ticket and you can bring your books," Alfred persuaded, "Please Artie? It'll be fun!" He looked at me with large, pleading sapphire eyes and I caved in.

* * *

**Hey guys! Well, in the next chapter we're off to Alfred's place for Thanksgiving! (You lucky American get turkey twice in a year. TWICE!)**

**I'm a little late for the Thanksgiving chapter (obviously), so the Christmas chapters should be around… January/February time because my procrastination skills are legen…wait for it...**

**But, I will be putting up a Christmas episode the beginning of 2013.**

**Hope you liked this chapter and drop me a review while you're at it!**

**Dary!**

**P.S. If you don't get the How I Met Your Mother reference then watch it, it's hilarious!**

**P.P.S Vladimir is Romania... just in case you didn't know.**


	10. Rawhide

**Warning: Slight homophobia, religious views and Arthur and Alfred having sexual tensions.**

**Disclaimer: Jeg ejer ikke Hetalia (Danish)**

* * *

Chapter Ten

Rawhide

_Move 'em on, head 'em up_

_Head 'em up, move 'em on_

_Move 'em on, head 'em up_

_Rawhide_

_Count 'em out, ride 'em in,_

_Ride 'em in, count 'em out,_

_Count 'em out, ride 'em in_

_Rawhide!_

_(Blue Brothers)_

Alfred's home town lay in the west of Texas, on the edge of the Great Plains, called Brighthollow. It was very small, consisting of a few shops, a hotel, a bar, a church and a couple of houses dotted around. The town was quite pleasant, but I knew that I wasn't going to be spending much time there. I couldn't help but sneak a peek over at Alfred, whose eyes were wide and a large smile graced his lips. He reminded me of a puppy, to be honest with you…

"And that's where I fell off my bike when I was six years old!" Alfred cried, "I broke my collar bone that day! And there's Mrs Frost-Hawke's pet shop! My mom brought Hero from there!" He grinned at me and then looked back out of the window of the cab that had picked us up from the airport.

"I've never seen you like this before," I muttered and Alfred looked over at me.

"Like what?" He asked.

"You're happy. Truly happy," I replied and smiled slightly, "It's nice to see," I felt myself blushing slightly and Alfred looked down at his hands.

"Actually," He sighed, "There is something I'm worried about," He looked up from his hands and over at me, "The Thanksgiving thing is a big tradition, my parents are gonna be there, my grandparents and my cousins." He paused and clenched and unclenched his hands, "My mom's sister, my aunt, and her husband are kind of religious…" He trailed off and I knew where this was going, but I urged him to continue, "My aunt and my uncle go by everything that's in the Bible and, to them, they think that homosexuality is wrong," He stopped and unclenched his hands for a final time, "They keep suggesting to my parents that they send me to one of those 'retreats' where they turn you straight. I'm just warning you that if they say anything to you, then you have my permission to smash their faces in," I frowned at him.

"That wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me," I answered, "Besides, I've dealt with this kind of thing before,"

I was true. During the first year when I was starting to come out, people treated me like (excuse my language) shit. They were always hunting me down, looking for me just to roll a few punches at me. I used to come home with black eyes, split limps and, sometimes, a limp from twisting my ankle when I tried to run from them. I was beat black and blue and to a pulp, until I learnt where I could go and where I couldn't. It all stopped one stormy evening, when Scott went on a (slightly) drunken rampage after I came home one night with a broken wrist. I often asked Scott what happened that night, but he always pulled his face into a frown and told me that I would be too traumatised if he told me. So, I'm guessing it was something bordering on illegal.

Alfred suddenly spotted something in the distance that dragged both me and him from our thoughts and he threw himself against the car window.

"We're here!" He cried and I looked out of the front of the taxi. We were fast approaching a large white house, with a number of wide windows and green coloured shutters. Outside, on the steps of the front porch, a woman was watching our taxi carefully, her hands folded in her lap and her fingers clutching the light material of her blue floral dress. She stood up as the taxi slowed to a stop and Alfred threw the door open to run up to the woman and hug her.

I was just about to open the door, when I saw the taxi driver glaring at me through the rear view mirror. He tapped the taximeter. I nodded and stepped out of the taxi.

"Alfred!" I called and he tore himself away from the embrace to look over at me, "The driver needs to be paid!"

"Can't you do it?" He whined and I frowned.

"I don't have any money, wanker!" Alfred, with a groan, walked back over to the taxi and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. I closed the cab door and went around to the boot (or the trunk) to get our suitcases. When I had gotten the suitcases, and when Alfred had paid, the taxi drove off and we were left facing the woman who smiled up at us.

"Ma," Alfred smiled, "This is Arthur, my friend I told you about. Arthur, this is my Mom," I held out my hand for her to shake.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs Jones," I said, and she threw her arms around my neck in a hug, instead of shaking my hand. I could now see where Alfred got his forwardness from.

"Don't be so formal," She replied as she let go off me, "Just call me Eva," She ran her fingers through her honey coloured hair and her sapphire eyes twinkled at me (They were the same colour as Alfred's eyes but I didn't notice… at least, not at first…).

"Has anyone else arrived yet?" Alfred asked as we started to walk towards the house.

"Just Grandpa," She replied as she opened the door for us. We stepped into a hallway, with oak panelling all over the walls. To the left, was an archway and, through the archway, I could see a large living room area, with three black, leather sofas, a coffee table and a large television. Alfred moved his suitcase, so that it was out of the way of the door, walked through to the living room and plonked down on the sofa, stretching out as he hummed peacefully.

"It's good to be back!" He cried and then looked over at Eva, "Where's Dad?"

"Out in the barn, if you want to see him," She said, "But I need to talk to you when you get back in," She left us and disappeared down the corridor.

"Did she say barn?" I asked and Alfred nodded and jumped up from the sofa. He walked over to me and grabbed my wrist, tugging me back towards the front door.

"There," He grinned and pointed towards a small barn when we got around to the back of the house, "That's where we keep the horses," He led me past a lot of fences, and into the barn. Across the barn, I could see an older version of Alfred talking to an elderly man in a white suit and a white cowboy hat on his head. Between them was a young looking horse.

"This is our youngest Quarter Horse, a yearling colt. His father was a world renowned rodeo competitor. Very good breeding," The older Alfred said and patted the young horse on its neck. The older Alfred suddenly noticed us standing in the doorway and smiled, "I'll be right back, Sir. I'll let you get to know 'im," He handed the rope attached to the horse's halter, to the other man and jogged up to us, giving Alfred a bear-like hug, "Alfred!" He cried, "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks Pa," Alfred answered, and I heard a Southern accent starting to come through in his voice, "Pa, this is Arthur, my friend from school," Alfred's father nodded to me and we shook hands.

"It's very nice to meet ya, Arthur," Mr Jones smiled.

"The same to you, Sir," I said and Mr Jones laughed.

"Don't be so posh, call me Bill," He replied and Alfred grinned at me.

* * *

Come dinner time, I had met Alfred's parents, his grandfather (who insisted that I called him John) and Alfred's dreaded aunt, uncle and cousins had arrived. Alfred's Aunt Clara was a bony woman, with no figure, a thin neck and a longer than average nose. Her mouse brown hair was up in a tight bun and she wore a boringly brown knee length skirt made of tweed, a loose cream blouse and a red cardigan. Small spectacles were sat on the bridge of abnormally large nose and around her neck was a small silver necklace with a small shinning silver cross hanging from it.

Alfred's Uncle Richard on the other hand seemed to be the exact opposite of Aunt Clara. He was at least a head shorter than his wife, with a fat face, no neck and a pot belly. He had beady little black eyes that were too close together and everything about him reminded me of a pig. He wore a pair of ugly brown trousers, a thick woollen blue jumper and his fat little hands clutched two suitcases.

They had three children, a ten year old boy called Sam, a seven year old girl called Mary and a two year old toddler called Jacob. All three had Clara's mouse brown hair and looked nothing like their parents. In fact, the three looked very sweet and were extremely happy when they saw Alfred, as Mary and Sam ran up to him.

"Cousin Alfred!" They cried and Alfred picked Mary up to hug her. I looked over at Alfred's aunt and uncle and Clara's lips were pressed together in a thin lip and Richard was glaring at Alfred with all the hatred the world had to offer.

Eva smiled at the scene and everyone, eventually, got into the kitchen to eat a light dinner. Clara had insisted on saying Grace. During the middle of the meal, Eva started to talk.

"So, I just thought I'd discuss room arrangements," She said and cleared her throat, "Clara and Richard, you'll be sleeping in the large guest bedroom. Will Jacob need a crib or a bed?"

"A crib please," Clara replied in a snooty voice, "He tried him on sleeping in a bed and he detested it!"

"Okay, so Jacob will be in the same room as you, Clara. Sam and Mary will be in the smaller guest room and Arthur," She glanced over at me, "You'll be sharing a room with Alfred," There was an awkward silence across the room and Clara 'accidently' dropped her knife against her plate. I looked around and cleared my throat.

"That's fine," I replied, "Thank you for letting me stay, by the way,"

"I do hope, for the sake of your soul, that you won't be sharing a bed with my nephew," Clara said and I looked at her.

"No. No we won't," I replied and she glared at me. She then turned her nose up at me; like I was something filthy stuck to her shoe, took her napkin from her lap and stood up. She grabbed Jacob from his high chair and walked out of the room without a word.

* * *

_There was a knock on the door and Scott and I instantly looked up as my mother went to answer it._

"_Excuse me Ma'am, but we need to talk to you," A voice said and my mother rushed back through, two police officers following her._

"_Boys, I need you to go upstairs, okay? And don't come down until I fetch you," I looked up at the two police officers with wide eyes, not really registering what was going on until I felt Scott pick me up and I tried to get away from his grasp. He dragged me to our room and we waited in silence for our mother to come back up._

_It was late when my mother came up. It was dark, but I could see tears running down her cheek. She picked me up and sat us down on Scott's bed, wrapping her arms around us both._

"_Boys," She chocked and fresh tears poured down and dripped onto our heads, "The police officers have just told me that your father he-" She stopped, looking for the right words, "He's gone to a better place," She muttered and buried her face into our hair. I could feel the tears increase, until they started running for my forehead. I reached up to touch one and I drew back. In the darkness, my fingertips were suddenly black. I panicked and scrambled from my mother's arms to see blood running down her and my brother's faces._

_I ran from the room, down the stairs and out the front door, my face draining of blood and my heart racing with terror._

_I looked up at my house, my sweet little childhood home, and took a few steps back and tripped. I landed on my back and pain started to seep through my nerves from my hip. I sat up and saw that I had tripped over the most horrifying thing in the world._

_At my feet was the corpse of my father, blood pouring from his eyes, his mouth. I stood up, fearing to take my eyes off of my father, when I heard a voice._

"_Arthur…" I tore my gaze away to be greeted with the face of Alfred. His face was pale and the same scarlet liquid that was suddenly flowing from my father's features was now also trickling down his eyes. I gazed up into his eyes with horror trying to find the sapphire blue that was normally there. His lips widened into a sickening smile, "Wake up…"_

I jolted up from my pillow, a cold sweat covering my body like a second skin and breathing hard. I glanced around to see numerous superhero posters littering the walls, a desk filled with random sheets of paper, a carpeted floor covered in clothes and an empty bed where Alfred should have been.

"Arthur, Artie," I looked up to see Alfred's eyes glowing in the night, "It's okay, you were just having a nightmare," He whispered and I flung my arms around his neck, trying to make the dream go away. I could hear myself starting to mutter curses under my breath and I felt myself shaking, but I couldn't stop it. Alfred wrapped his arms around me, lifted me from my sleeping bag (that was posing as my bed for the next few days) and carried me to his bed. I looked up at him as he placed me down and covered me in warm sheets. He then slipped in next to me and wrapped his arms around my waist, keeping me enclosed. I turned to look at him.

"My Ma always used to hug me after I had a bad dream," He whispered, "I used to think that my Ma was a superhero that kept the bad dreams away,"

"Why are you doing this?" I asked and he grinned. My stomach did a weird flip and I my hands started to sweat slightly.

"Because I'm the hero,"

* * *

The next morning I was awoken by a screech and I opened an eye to see Clara rush from the doorway.

"EVA!" She yelled, "Your son is undertaking in sinful things with that British boy he brought home!" Somehow, during the night after I drifted back off to sleep, I ended up lying on Alfred's chest, our legs intertwined and my face at his collar bone. Even though I knew the predicament I was in, I didn't move or roll off of Alfred's chest. Instead, I stayed there, not giving a damn if anyone saw us. I was comfy.

I heard a groan and Alfred lifted a hand to rub at his face. I closed an eye again as Alfred wrapped an arm back around my waist.

"Who's shouting?" He muttered, sleepily.

"Your Aunt Clara," I heard him groan again.

"She can go screw herself. Too early to be 'wake" I slapped him on the arm and turned my head towards the open door. I saw two pairs of big eyes staring at me, which belonged to Sam and Mary. They both wore jeans and loose fitting shirts and thick leather cowboy boots.

"Alfred," I muttered and put my head back again, "Children," Alfred opened an eye to glance at Sam and Mary.

"I'll take you riding later," He muttered, "Go downstairs and eat some breakfast," The two children disappeared, giggling to each other as Clara reappeared, dragging her sister, Eva with her.

"Eva, I demand something be done about this! This is unholy is every way!" Clara cried and pointed at us. Eva rolled her eyes when she saw us, a small smile on her face.

"Boys," Eva scolded and we both looked up at her, "Why are you sleeping in the same bed?"

"Arthur had a nightmare last night," Alfred said, "I was being a hero," I slapped a hand to my face and Alfred grinned as he patted me on the head. I saw Clara glaring at me from the doorway and I could sense that she wasn't happy.

"That's no excuse!" She cried, "Sleeping in the same bed as a man! Get up now! Both of you!" Alfred wrapped his arms tighter around me as I tried to get out of bed.

"No. He's so warm!" He cried, rolling over so that I slid off his chest. I managed to escape and stand up from the bed as he muttered a protest. I stood up straight and headed for the door. I glared up at Clara.

"I've only been here one day," I hissed, "And I'm already sick of you," I slipped past her and went into the bathroom. I was about to shut the door when I heard Alfred cry;

"Well! I guess Arthur's not a morning person then!" There was a pause, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

* * *

I sat on the fence as I watched Alfred lead one of the horses around, little Mary sat in the saddle, her back straight and her face was pulled into a frown on concentration.

"Okay, do you think you can try trotting?" Alfred asked and Mary squeaked, shaking her head quickly, "That's okay! We'll go around the field a few more times, okay?" Mary nodded and, eventually, Alfred passed the horse and Mary over to Bill and walked over to me, a big smile on his face.

"You're good with children," I said when he sat next to me on the fence. He grinned at me.

"Kids love me," Alfred said and I felt my heart pound against my ribcage so hard, I thought the whole world could hear it. I noticed suddenly that his head was unusually close to mine. And I swallowed thickly.

"And you seem to love them too," I said, slightly nervously and Alfred adjusted his wide rimmed cowboy hat and looked out towards the house.

"I'm confused," He admitted, "Why don't you like kids?"

"Annoying little buggers," I muttered, "I'm the youngest in my family, I didn't grow up around children," We sat there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, letting the warm breeze wrap around us and I heard horses whinny in the distance, probably from the barn.

Today was Thanksgiving for the American people, a day when they celebrated and gave thanks for just being here in America. A small part of me wondered what Alfred was thankful for…

Alfred stretched his arms up and jumped down from the fence, grabbing my hand and pulled me down with him, "Come on," He said, "You're gonna ride a horse," I stopped and tugged my hand from his.

"No," I replied, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. No, Alfred!" Alfred smirked and grabbed my hand again, keeping a tight hold on it as he dragged me towards the barn.

"Pa!" He called, "We're gonna get Artie on a horse!" Bill looked up from his spot petting one of the horses, a slight look of confusion on his face. Bill then stood up and looked at me, up and down.

"He's quite a short one, isn't he?" Bill said to Alfred and Alfred nodded in reply.

"I was thinking Ginger," Alfred smiled and Bill immediately agreed. Alfred rushed off to a nearby stable and led a chestnut mare from her stall, "Arthur, this is Ginger. She's our most patient horse, so don't worry. You're in safe hands," Soon enough, Ginger was saddled, ready and I had somehow gotten into the saddle. Alfred smiled up at me as he led Ginger out into the sunlight. He walked Ginger around the fenced in area once and then again, giving me advice on how to sit on the horse (I kid you not. Apparently there was a wrong way of sitting on a horse).

"Keep the balls of your feet in the stirrups. It gives you more balance and flexibility in your ankle," Alfred said, "And keep your back straight. Hands off the saddle," I rolled my eyes at him and then panicked when I saw him let go of the bridle.

"What are you doing?" I gasped and Alfred chuckled.

"Don't worry, nothing is gonna happen!" He tried to reassure me. I would have been more relaxed on the horse if not for a few moments later, when she threw me from the saddle and I landed with a thump on the ground. Ginger kept rearing up and she ran to the other side of the area, "Pa!" Alfred cried and ran to me.

"Nothing is going to happen, you said," I muttered, "Don't worry, you said," I saw Bill, from the corner of my eye run out of the barn and over to where Ginger was now starting to calm down.

"What happened?" Bill asked, slightly shocked.

"Artie was thrown," Alfred said and he pushed me back down when I tried to sit up, "I think Ginger saw a rattler," Okay, now his accent was coming through strong. I lifted my head up.

"What the bloody hell is a rattler?" I asked.

"Rattlesnake," Bill said as he checked the back of my head for any signs of blood, "Cottonmouth most likely. You don't get the Western Diamondbacks out 'ere," Bill then looked at my eyes, "No sign of concussion, I don't think. Do you feel any pain?" I shook my head, "Alfred, take Arthur inside. I'll deal with Ginger," Alfred nodded and pulled me up, wrapping his arm around my waist to try and keep me balanced as we carefully walked back to the house.

* * *

Dinnertime rolled around once again and, just like yesterday, we all sat down at the table, a hot, golden turkey with all the trimmings sat in the middle of it and large amounts of dishes surrounded it. I took my seat next to Alfred and watched as everyone praised Clara and Eva on what a good job they did on cooking everything is such a short time. Once again, Clara and Richard requested that we say Grace and then everyone started tucking in to the food.

It was when everyone started eating when light conversation started.

"I heard you got thrown from Ginger today, Arthur," John commented between mouthfuls of corn on the cob, "Never thought she'd throw anyone. Most tender natured horse we have, that one,"

"She was spooked by a rattler," Alfred said as he shoved more food onto his plate, "Took us all by surprise,"

"Doesn't help that Alfred wasn't holding the bridle," Bill muttered, "People have died from being thrown from a horse, ya know. We may have tamed them, but they're still dangerous,"

"Maybe, it was God's will," Clara spoke up and, like the night before, an uneasy silence fell across the table, "Maybe, He was punishing you for bedding with a man, Arthur,"

"You're actually doing this," Alfred muttered after an awkward pause, "I can't believe you're actually doing this to my friend!" Alfred glared at both his Aunt and Uncle.

"There is a higher power who will punish you for your sins, Alfred," Richard said and took a sip of wine. Alfred stood up from his seat, making the table shake as he did so.

"Fuck you and fuck your homophobic thoughts," He cried and stormed out of the room. I looked around for a second and then started to pile my plate up with food.

"Clara, Richard, did you really have to say that?" Eva sighed as she leaned back in her chair. Clara took a bite of turkey and chewed it.

"I cannot go against the word of my God and His teachings," Clara replied once she had swallowed.

"But didn't God say to love everyone?" I interrupted, causing everyone to look my way, "No matter rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, doesn't God wish for everyone to be in peace and live in happiness? We are all God's children,"

"God makes rules," Clara stiffened, "We must follows those rules to keep Him happy and to keep ourselves from living out the rest of eternity in Hell,"

"So, if the Bible and God says that homosexuality is wrong, then…?" I paused, waiting for them to answer. Richard and Clara glanced at each other.

"Homosexuality is wrong and a sin," They said in unison. I sat there for a second, letting the words wash over me and then got up.

"Please excuse me," I said as I picked up my plate, "But I cannot bear to be in the same room as someone who thinks that my sexuality is a sin," I walked away from the table, twirling my fork around my hand, "I don't appreciate people who try to force religion down my throat,"

* * *

I found Alfred in the barn as the sun started to disappear below the horizon. He was sat on a bale of hay in Ginger's stall and was whispering softly to her.

"Not fair," He muttered as he patted Ginger's forehead, brushing her mane from her eyes, "Why can't they forget about God once in a while?" Ginger reached her head down to take a bite out of the hay bale and munched on it quietly, "I'm family. Family is more important than religion, right?" Alfred put his hand to pet Ginger on the nose and she leaned into his touch, "I can't help being who I am," He sighed.

"Alfred?" I called and he jumped up from the hay bale in shock, his eyes wide at me catching him taking to something that couldn't talk back.

"Arthur!" He cried and I raised an eyebrow, "I was just-"

"Talking to the horse?" I finished for him and he frowned. He then pulled on corner of his lips up to give me a half smile.

"Yeah, but Ginger's a good listener," He replied and then spotted the plate that I had brought him; "You brought me food?" I nodded.

"Well, you did walk out on dinner earlier than expected," I replied and handed over the plate to him. He took the fork and ate a bite of stuffing.

"What about you?" He asked, "Why are you here?"

"I had an argument with your aunt about religion," I replied smoothly and he grinned.

"I told you they were annoying," We sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds heard was the chewing noises of both Ginger and Alfred and the occasional clatter of fork against plate. We didn't speak again until Alfred had finished eating and put it outside Ginger's stable. He then looked back at me and grabbed my hand, "I wanna show you something," He grinned and led me from Ginger's stall, shutting the door after him.

At the back of the barn was a small, rickety ladder which led up into the hay loft. He led the way first and I followed. The hay loft was small and dusty, with not a lot of room to move about due to the number of hay bales there were. In the wall of the barn, was a small, dirty window which gave you a perfect view of the setting sun as it dipped down and disappeared. Alfred wrinkled his nose slightly.

"Not dark enough yet," He muttered and sat down, leaning up against a bale, "You're gonna wanna sit down for a while," He said and I sat down opposite him, watching as the skies grew darker, "I used to come up here all the time," I glanced over at him but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the tree line, "Ya know, before I became famous,"

"How did it happen?" I asked and his eyes shone slightly as he took his gaze away from the window.

"I was ten when it first happened," He started, "I was a keen actor, it's all I wanted to do. I was spotted by someone from an agency one night when I was performing and he introduced me to voice acting. Can't even remember who the guy was," He pulled his brow together in concentration, "Someone from Funimation, I think. But anyway, I started having small parts in dubbing animes, small roles every now and then, it wasn't much but I loved it. Then, one day I was mucking around in the recording studio and I randomly started singing. A guy who worked there heard me and he asked me if I could do anything else, so I told him that I played guitar and that's how I was discovered," He smiled over at me at the memory.

"I met Francis, Antonio and Gilbert when I was thirteen. They were looking for a singer, so I said yes. Three years later of recording, promoting, touring and here I am," He finished and took a stalk of hay from the bale and stuck it between his lips.

"You used to act?" I asked in surprise and Alfred nodded.

"I was quite good as well. Maybe, when I'm older and finished school, I could start again," He took the stalk from his lips and twirled it between his fingers, "What's your story? Why do you, your brother and your mom hate famous people?" I shook my head.

"It's a long and depressing story," I muttered, "I don't really want to tell it, to be honest with you," Alfred raised an eyebrow, "It's a chapter of my life that I've closed forever and I never intend to open it again,"

"Oh, come on!" Alfred protested, "I told you my story!"

"Your story doesn't contain death, bullying and debt," I snapped back and Alfred dropped it. We sat there for a while, ignoring each other and looking down at our hands. Suddenly, I saw Alfred move and he scooted across to sit next to me. His arm wrapped around my shoulders and I felt myself leaning into him. He then nudged me slightly and nodded towards the window.

Outside, I could see millions upon millions of stars, lying in a carpet of velvet darkness. I gasped and my eyes widened. I had never seen so many stars before in my life, and it was quite stunning.

"Oh my giddy aunt," I muttered and looked back at Alfred, "Why didn't you tell me that you had a view like this?"

"We were slightly jet lagged yesterday," He replied with a shrug, "I've never shown this to anyone before. It's always been my little piece of heaven," I looked back out of the window and felt privileged that Alfred as sharing this wonder with me. Butterflies started to flutter around in my stomach and I could feel my heart start to race.

What was wrong with me?

However, I ignored everything and basked in the glow of the stars and Alfred and soon enough, we both fell asleep, his arm still around my shoulders to keep me warm.

I had never felt so happy.

* * *

**My God that took a while! Ha! It's starting guys, it's starting!**

**Right, just some small things I wanted to tell you guys about first!**

**I have dropped out of college! *Pulls party popper* This is because my courses were hard and I was sick of getting up at six every single morning! I have a lot of free time on my hands now, which means that chapter may be updated more regularly. If I can get my motivation into gear and stop procrastinating.**

**Also, there are religious views in this chapter. I must say this now; I am not at all a religious person. I don't mind when people have a religion, I just don't have one myself. Just thought I'd put that out there…**

**Well, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I hope you all have a good New Year!**

**Please review!**

**P.S. I know nothing about ranches in Texas. Everything I know, I got off of Google and Wikipedia...**


	11. These Words

**Happy 2013 everyone!**

**Warnings: Fluff. Fluff and sexual tensions everywhere.**

**Disclaimer: Jeg eier ikke Hetalia (Norwegian)**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

These Words

_Trying to find the magic_

_Trying to write a classic_

_Don't you know, don't you know, don't you know?_

_Waste-bin full of paper_

_Clever rhymes, see you later_

_These words are my own_

_From my heart flow_

_I love you, I love you, I love you_

_There's no other way_

_To better say_

_I love you, I love you…_

_(Natasha Bedingfield)_

The day after Thanksgiving, Alfred and I were due to go back to the Academy. Bill, Eva and John saw us off at the airport as an apology for the actions of Clara and Richard. Eva got rather tearful, giving Alfred long, tight hugs and refusing multiple times to let him board the plane. Eventually, Eva gave us both one last, bone crushing, embrace and let us

The plane ride back was annoying. An hour's journey with a bothersome boy behind me who kept kicking my chair, yelling at his parents and just being an all round brat. Landing at Hetalia airport was such as relief. I was tired, my legs were cramped up and I was very annoyed.

Neither Alfred nor I said a word as we worked our way back to the Academy; it was only when I was back in the safety of my room, when I let out a chocked gasp.

Everything was so weird. My heart was thumping so hard, my palms were constantly damp and my stomach kept flipping or twisting or tightening. Yet this was only when Alfred was around me. I collapsed down onto the sofa, the leather making a slight noise as my jeans came into contact with it. Leaning back, I covered my face with my hands and rubbed gently at my eyes. I had a feeling that I knew what this was.

I needed to talk to someone, get some advice, and I knew exactly who to go to.

After I had unpacked my suitcase and put all of my clothes way in their rightful places, and then made my way out of my room and down the corridor. Most of the dorm rooms were empty, as most of the students were due back either tomorrow or the day after and I had never seen the halls so quiet. I could hear a few conversations through the walls, and the odd snoring of a jetlagged boy every now and then, but otherwise, I was drenched in an eerie-like silence.

After a few minutes, I eventually saw Ludwig, his face pulled into a frown and he looked worried about something.

"Ludwig," I said as he approached me, "Good to see you, how was your week off?"

"Gut, danke," He looked up and down the corridor, clearly distracted by something, "I was just wondering, have you seen Feliciano at all?"

"Not today, no," I replied, "I only got back about an hour ago. Isn't he normally with you?"

"Ja, but I woke up with morning and he wasn't there," Ludwig muttered, going slightly red in the face. Lovino had told me about Ludwig and Feliciano's 'relationship' if there was one. Apparently, Feliciano slept in Ludwig's bed (to which he didn't protest), they spent most of their free time together and that the sexual tension was practically thick enough to see (Francis said that, right before Lovino tried to stab him with the butter knife). All in all, the two of them were in each other's pockets and yet there was no sign of either of them confessing their undying love for each other.

But I had a feeling that Feliciano would take that first, important step rather than Ludwig.

"Maybe he's with Kiku and Heracles. I think I saw them earlier by the fountain with a bunch of cats," I suggested, and Ludwig nodded.

"Ja, danke Arthur," He muttered and then marched off, his face still showing a frown of worry. I started walking again, brushing off Feliciano's disappearance with little thought. He was always getting caught up somewhere or distracted by shiny things.

As I descended upon Room 230, I could hear muffled laughter and voices from inside and I could hear that they were both there. A short knock on the door later, I was face to face with Lovino, who was rather underdressed, wearing a large t-shirt with a Spanish rock band on the front and a pair of boxer briefs. His face immediately reddened.

"Y-You're back," He stuttered, "I thought you'd be back tomorrow," I shook my head.

"Couldn't get a plane back on tomorrow's date," I explained, "I actually really need to talk to you. Could I come in?" Lovino gripped the door for a few seconds, then grumbled under his breath and moved out of the doorway, to let me through. Upon entering Lovino's room, I noticed two things. One was that there were clothes everywhere, thrown into awkward places without a care in the world. A t-shirt looked like it was about to fall off the worktop, a pair of jeans was lying on top of the coffee table and some underwear was hanging from the light fixture, caught by the lampshade. The second thing was that Antonio was sitting on the sofa, in a pair of red boxers, watching Dora the Explorer on the flat-screen telly and eating a large bowl of cereal.

It didn't take much to realise why Lovino had been reluctant to let me in.

Antonio looked over his shoulder at me and smile as I carefully stepped over another pair of underwear.

"¡Hola amigo!" Antonio greeted after swallowing a large mouthful of hoop-shaped cereal, "I didn't know you were back so soon," The Spaniard seemed oblivious to the situation he was in and just smiled and ate his food in peace. Lovino jumped up, grabbing the underwear hanging from the lamp and threw them at Antonio.

"Bastard! Get a shirt on or something!" He cried, "I have a guest!" Antonio put his half empty bowl on the coffee table and stood up, stretching his arms towards the ceiling, letting his stomach muscles rippled slightly. Lovino could hardly take his eyes off him. Antonio padded over to Lovino, wrapping his arms around Lovino's shoulder and nestling his face in the Italian's neck.

"Lovi~~~" Antonio cooed slightly, "Do I have to?" I spotted Lovino's face blush to an impossible shade of red and he nodded. Antonio dropped his arms, wrapping them around Lovino's waist, his hands dangling dangerously low to his behind; he murmured something in Spanish into his boyfriend's ear. Lovino muttered something back in Italian, as they started to negotiate (at least, I think that's what they were doing). After a few minutes of talking in two languages I wasn't fluent in (thank God), Lovino suddenly buried his face in Antonio's chest, trying to hide his burning face. Antonio smirked; tilted Lovino's chin up and kissed him full on the mouth.

I sat myself down on the leather chair, now bored of their antics and gave a small cough, just loud enough to break them apart and for them to remember that I was actually still here.

"Get a room," I said to them and Antonio laughed and let go of Lovino.

"We've been getting a room for the past three days," He smirked and walked through to the bedroom when Lovino started shooting his mouth off in three different languages (Italian, Spanish and English). The door shut with a click and Lovino stood where he was, fuming for a few moments before he sank down into the sofa, glaring at Antonio's half eaten cereal. He sighed and then glanced up at me.

"Sorry about that," He murmured and I rolled my eyes.

"No one around, a week off," I replied and then sighed, "I should have known," We sat there in an awkward silence before Lovino cleared his throat, his face now back to its normal colour and he looked over at me.

"So, you wanted to talk?" Lovino asked and I nodded, looking down at my hands. How the hell was I going to explain this? The bedroom door clicked open again and Antonio came out, dressed in a yellow t-shirt and a pair of dark rinse jeans. He came up behind Lovino and kissed his cheek, whispering something in his ear to which Lovino replied, "Shut the fuck up and eat your cereal!"

Antonio grinned and plonked himself down next to Lovino on the sofa, grabbing his bowl and continued eating, a love struck grin on his face all the while. I coughed slightly and started to gather up all of my bearings to start telling them what I thought was going on with me. I had just opened my mouth, when the door to the hallway burst open and Feliciano flew in, babbling at a mile a minute in Italian and English. He landed on Lovino, his arms wrapping around his brother in a desperate attempt to get some comfort from him. Lovino pushed his younger brother off and Feliciano landed on the coffee table, landing on the remote for the television and accidently turning up the volume so high that Dora could be heard from the principal's office.

Lovino pushed his brother slightly, grabbed the remote and muted the television quickly as Feliciano muttered an apology. Lovino stared down at his brother, hands on his hips. To be honest with you, in his attire (or lack of it) he looked like the least threatening thing in the world, but to Feliciano, he could have been a creature out of a horror movie for all he cared.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Lovino cried, his voice growling slightly, "You don't just come bursting in here!" Feliciano sniffled slightly and gave a small apology.

"Ludwig was looking for you," I said, "He looked rather worried," The younger Italian bit his bottom lip which wobbled slightly and then burst into tears. Antonio put his bowl down on the floor and shifted himself so that he was sitting next to Feliciano on the coffee table and gave him a warm hug as the Italian sobbed and wailed loudly. Feliciano held out his hand, and passed a crumpled piece of paper to his brother. Lovino took the paper, and briefly skimmed through it. His eyes narrowed and his lips started pressing together.

"What the fuck is this?!" He demanded and then scrunched up the paper and threw it behind you, "Is this guy stalking you?" I gently got out of my seat as the brothers started talking (or yelling in Lovino's case) in Italian, and grabbed the piece of paper. What I saw written on it, I didn't expect to see…

_Dear Feliciano, _it said

_This is not an easy letter for me to write, as I know that you would never consider dating me, but I just needed to get everything off my chest._

_Feliciano Vargas, I love you. I love you so much that I cannot bear it._

_If I was a bigger man, I would tell you myself, but there are so many obstacles in my way, your brother, for example and that large brut of a friend, Ludwig. No doubt they would slaughter me._

_But, now my feeling for you has gotten so extreme, there are days in class when I just want to grab you up and hug you and kiss you._

_I know that you probably don't want this letter, but I had to tell you._

_I'm sorry_

_Your secret admirer_

_X_

I flipped the paper over, looking for any more writing, but that was it. The handwriting was scruffy, with a few smudges from the ink, no doubt written by a person who was left handed. The paper was thin, lined and looked like the recycled paper you got cheap at the supermarket. The left edge of the paper was torn slightly, no doubt a sheet from a pad of paper. It had been folded into thirds and I looked over to where Feliciano was crying, tears still pouring down his cheeks and he was lectured about stranger danger from Lovino.

"Feliciano, did this come in an envelope?" I asked. Lovino shut up as his brother nodded and pulled a white envelope from his pocket. I took it, flipping it over multiple times. The same handwriting was used to mark Feliciano's name, right next to a small window of plastic. I looked over at Feliciano, "I'll find out who sent this letter," I said to him and he nodded, "Can I borrow these?" Feliciano nodded and I smiled at him.

Just as I was about to walk out the door, Lovino stopped me.

"What are you doing?" He asked and I grinned at him.

"Investigating," I said and walked out into the corridor, "Oh, and can you call Alfred and tell him to meet me in Science Lab Five!" I called as I walked away from him, a big smile on my face and an urge to do something.

* * *

I had just found a roll of sellotape in the top draw of the teacher's desk, along with a few packets of confiscated gum, a laser pointer and a pornographic magazine, when Alfred opened the door of the Lab. He looked over at me with a questioning look on his face and my eyes glanced over at him.

"Do you know where the professor keeps the chalk?" I asked, looking through one of the glass cabinets filled with acids and chemicals. He cleared his throat slightly, walked over to me and leaning up to reach a small plastic box atop the cabinet, giving me a big whiff of what he scent. He smelt like mint, soap and something that made Alfred's aroma so. My pulse quickened and my face started going slightly pinkish, but I controlled myself as he brought the plastic box down and opened it, revealing some small samples of different types of sedimentary rock. He took out a small piece of white chalk and dropped it in my palm.

"Thank you," I said, moving away from him quickly and returning to the desk where the letter, envelope, the sellotape and a piece of black card and put the chalk down as well. I took the envelope and studied the plastic window carefully. Alfred leant against the table, his arms folded.

"What are you doing?" He asked and I pointed to the letter, my eyes still trained on the plastic. He glanced over the letter quickly. He wrinkled his nose, "And this has everything to do with you, how?"

"Feliciano was crying over that letter," I said, blankly, "I think he was scared by the fact that he had a secret admirer, so I offered to find out who he was," I looked at the chalk and then glanced up at Alfred, "Can you crush that for me?" He grabbed a mortor and petstle from a nearby cupboard and placed the small piece of chalk into the mortor. As he started grinding, I looked at the paper again.

"It's so cheap," I muttered and Alfred looked at me, slightly confused, "Why would someone from an elite school used cheap, recycled paper?"

"People used recycled paper every day," Alfred said, "I know Mattie does. All his notebooks are recycled,"

"Yes, but have you seen everyone else's notebooks," I replied, looking up at him and then back down at the paper, "Thick, quality paper. Ring bound notebooks. This is the really cheap stuff you get in supermarkets," I picked up the envelope, looking at it, slightly confused still.

"Maybe it's from an honours student," Alfred said as he gave me the mortor filled with chalk dust, "You're not the only one, you know," I took a pinch of the chalk and sprinkled it over the plastic window on the envelope. I then blew the chalk away gently, until I found what I was looking for.

A perfect fingerprint.

A grin spread across my face as I took a small piece of sellotape and carefully placed it on the plastic, over the print and then peeled it back again. I then carefully stuck the sellotape onto the black card and smiled at my work. I flipped the card around the show Alfred and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"How would a fingerprint help us?" Alfred asked and I nearly slapped him upside the head. There were some days when I thought that Alfred was, truly, one of the dumbest people you could come across in this world and today was one of those days.

"The library system uses finger scanning to identify students. We match them up and we have our man!" I cried and he gave me a small, half smile.

"Why are you doing this?" He enquired, taking the black card from my hands and looking at it, "All of this, it's like something out of a detective movie," I sighed and sat down on a stool, pulling my legs under it slightly.

"I'm doing this, so that Feliciano can find out who sent him this letter," I replied, taking the card back and placing it flat against the table between us. Alfred' finger poked the back of my hand.

"That's not the reason," Alfred muttered, "There's something you're not telling me," I sighed, and looked down at my hands, lacing them together and told him that when I was younger, and when my dad was still alive, he used to read to my brother and I from these old, thick, dusty books filled with the classic stories; Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, The Jungle Book and many more. Personally, my favourite was a large, leather bound book, with the spine barely hanging on and faded gold lettering. The pages were pale, yellowed with age and the cover was soft. This book was called the Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes.

I still knew the exact location of that book.

It sat in the top corner of my bookcase, back in my room in London, waiting for me to pick it up and start reading it again.

I looked up at Alfred's bright blue eyes, waiting for him to say something.

"You can guess the rest," I muttered and glanced back down at the thumbprint, "Sherlock Holmes was my hero. He was useful, resourceful and brilliant. I just…" I closed my eyes, "I just wanted to be useful too. That's why I came to this school, to try to become like Holmes and be a detective. I know it's preposterous, but it's all I've ever wanted," Alfred reached over and gently touched my fingers.

"I didn't know that," He murmured and moved his other hand, to reach out and cup my cheek, brushing an annoying strand of hair away from my face. His eyes scanned mine and he smiled softly, "You're dream is not ridiculous,"

We were frozen, neither of our eyes flickering for a minute as we just stared, right at each other. The hand that was touching mine moved, Alfred's fingers threaded through mine and they felt so warm.

After a few more moments, Alfred suddenly moved, taking his hand from my cheek and picked up the black card. He then looked down at our hands, squeezed my fingers in reassurance and then untangled them. He gave me his trademark grin and laughed slightly.

"Let's go get Feliciano's admirer, then!" He cried, and I forced myself to move. My fingers and cheek tingled from where he touched them, my ears were buzzing, my heart thumping and my palm were damp with sweat. I stood up and walked, slightly behind Alfred, out of Lab Five, leaving everything where it was.

For a moment there, I panicked.

I thought he was going to kiss me…

* * *

We had a name, a face and we knew where to find him. As Alfred and I walked up the stairs to the art corridor, I had Alfred's phone pressed to my ear, trying to convince Lovino to pass Antonio's phone over to his brother, and that no; Feliciano wasn't in danger at all.

"Si?" I heard Feliciano ask, his voice slightly hoarse.

"Feliciano? We found him," I said, "Meet us in the art corridor,"

"Can Lovi come too, ve~?"

"Fine, but he's staying outside the classroom, I don't need him interrupting,"

The art corridor was located on the third floor of the school building, with exquisite paintings running up and down the hallway. Canvases of different sizes and shapes could be found in the midst of all the numerous pieces of art, but my favourite was a six foot by ten foot painting at the end of it all, where the corridor split in two, one way leading to the Geography section and the other going towards a large staircase where the Astrology lessons were held. It was mostly brown and grey, with an odd splash of bronze or silver hidden somewhere in the painting. Small, dull people littered the bottom, most of them holding equally dull and depressing umbrellas. I liked this piece, because it reminded me so much of London. But, in the midst of it all was a bright blue umbrella, an anomaly in an otherwise boring day. I loved that umbrella.

After a few minutes of waiting and studying this amazing piece of artwork, I heard footsteps and looked over to see Feliciano, Lovino and Antonio walking down the corridor. Feliciano looked rather solemn and quiet, his hand clutching his brother as he looked down at the ground. Lovino was still fuming inside, his lips pursed together and his eyes narrow. Antonio on the other hand… looked like he normally would… there was no other way to describe him.

Feliciano looked up at me, his eyes open and wide (for once) and his bottom lip wobbled slightly, but he kept control of himself.

"You found him, ve?" He asked quietly and I nodded.

"Let me at him!" Lovino cried, "I'll skin the bastard through!" Antonio put his hand on Lovino's head, which seemed to calm him down, because he grumbled something inaudible and folded his arms over his chest, letting go of Feliciano's hand in the process.

"Lovino, you and Antonio will be staying out in the corridor, where you won't be able to be charged for assault," I looked at the younger Italian, "Do you want to do this on your own or do you want us to come with you?" Feliciano reached out and grabbed my wrist with both of his hand, a gesture meaning that he didn't want to go alone. I nodded and Feliciano and I started walking down the corridor, leaving Antonio, Lovino and Alfred at the painting with the blue umbrella.

Art Room Eight was a small room, with a few chairs, some easels and two large, white sinks where paints could be washed up. By the window, a large stack of paints, canvases, brushes and palettes sat and, in the centre of it all, a boy of about seventeen stood at an easel, a small brush dabbing gently at a thin piece of canvas. His hair was a mousy-brown and his skin was pale. He was frail looking, with a pair of thick glasses and his sleeves were rolled up to keep the ends from getting covered in paint. Feliciano's licked his lips quickly and looked back up at me when he spotted the boy.

"You can go in," I said and he nodded and pushed the door open. At first the boy didn't seem to notice us, his eyes trained on the painting in front of him. Feliciano took a few steps into the room, his socks making no noise against the tile floors (He wasn't wearing any shoes, which I found bizarre)

"That painting's really good," Feliciano said, his voice shaking slightly. The boy jumped, his paintbrush nearly slipping and ruining the image. The boy spun around, adjusting his glasses quickly and put the paintbrush down on a small table next to him which held his paints.

"F-Feli!" He cried, "W-What are you doing here?"

"Isaac…" Feliciano looked around at me and I nodded to him, "Did you write that letter?" Isaac stood there for a second, a look of horror on his face.

"What letter, Feli? I have no idea what you could be referring too," Isaac said all too quickly. This boy was lying. Feliciano looked towards me again, a look of desperation on his face. I sighed and entered the room, placing the envelope, which now contained to letter down on the small table next to the easel and looked up at him.

"Isaac Walker, yes? Arthur Kirkland, please to meet you," I said, smoothly.

"Yes, I know who you are. You're Alfred's boyfriend, aren't you?" My eyes narrowed at him and pointed at the letter.

"You sent this, didn't you?" He shook his head and I glared at him, "Don't lie to me," I stepped back from the table, "I found some fingerprints on the envelope and they matched your prints, Isaac. Don't lie to us,"

"Okay, fine!" He cried, throwing his hands up in the air, "I sent the letter, okay? I didn't have the guts to tell you in person, so I wrote how I felt down on a piece of paper and slipped it in your sketchbook when you weren't looking," Feliciano looked down at his socks, thinking carefully. He then looked back up at Isaac with big eyes.

"Why did you call Luddi a brut?" He asked, his voice quiet and soft.

"Who?"

"Ludwig. You called him a brut,"

"He is," Isaac replied, "He's always been mean to you and yelling at you. I don't know why you'd want to be friends with him," Feliciano took a small step back.

"Luddi keeps me safe," Feliciano defended, "He helps me when I need help and he ties my shoelaces for me ve~, an-and he always gives me the cakes he bakes and then yells at me for eating it all in one go ve~. And his dogs are really nice to me too a-and… he's always there…" Feliciano stopped, his face had gone red and he looked like he wanted to cry. Isaac grabbed Feliciano's arms, suddenly.

"Feliciano, you don't understand! You don't understand how I feel for you! My heart beats faster every time I see you, my palms sweat, I get nervous and whenever I see you smile I get the oddest urge to smile too!" Wait… what did he say? Shit, those were the feelings of love? Shit!

He looked down at the ground, "You were the first person to say how much you liked my paintings," Feliciano raised hand and patted him on the head. Isaac looked up quickly and Feliciano leaned forward to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot accept your feelings," the Italian said, "But I hope you can give them to someone who would want to give you those feelings too," He moved from Isaac's grip, "I'm sorry," Feliciano made a quick escape out the door, skidding slightly due to his socks. I looked over at Isaac and tapped the letter.

"I'll leave that with you," I said and followed Feliciano's leave, "Have a good day,"

* * *

My mother once said to me that love wasn't anything special. She told me that love would cut you down when you least expected it and that love would hurt you so bad that you would feel like you're physically in pain.

I now know that my mother was wrong. Today has proven that to me. Love can be about pain and rejection, but it was also about finding someone special who you were willing to share special moments and memories with.

The love that Lovino and Antonio feel for each other may or may not be shown in public, but it's still there and they're thriving off of it. Feliciano finally understood today why he was so attached to his German friend and it was heart warming.

Ludwig found us when we decided to head back down to the dorms for a much needed hot drink. His eyes lit up when we suddenly turned the corner to go towards Lovino's room.

"Feliciano Vargas!" He cried, his voice echoing off the walls and making it seem louder, "Where were you?!" He stormed up to us and, to our surprise, threw his arms around Feliciano's shoulders in relief. Feliciano stood there, shocked for a minute and then returned the hug.

"I'm sorry Luddi," Feliciano murmured into Ludwig's neck and the larger of the two sighed. It was a very sweet moment really and three of us (not including Lovino. He was fuming) smiled at the scene. Feliciano suddenly reached up and pecked Ludwig on the cheek. The German went a bright shade of pink and looked down at Feliciano, who smiled.

"_Ich liebe dich_, Luddi!" The Italian cried and Ludwig pressed his forehead to Feliciano's, his eyes closed and a small, nearly invisible smiled etched on his lips. Ludwig then let go of Feliciano and took a step back.

"Come on, you have homework left to do," Ludwig cleared his throat and Feliciano pouted.

"I did my homework!" He protested and Ludwig shook his head.

"No, I did my homework whilst you slept," He said and they started walking down the corridor together. They continued the debate, even after I saw Feliciano sneak his hand into Ludwig's, their fingered lacing together.

I looked back at Lovino, Antonio and Alfred to see that Antonio was holding Lovino back from murdering the German right there and then for holding hands with his brother.

"Stupid German, sausage sucker," Lovino muttered, "Trying to steal my fratello,"

"He's not trying to steal your hermano," Antonio tried to reassure his boyfriend, "He's just protecting him," Antonio smiled and patted Lovino on the head. Lovino slapped his hand away and looked over at me.

"You wanted to talk to me, Eyebrows?" Lovino asked and I shook my head.

"No, its fine," I said, "Sorry I wasted your time," Lovino nodded.

"Lovi~," Antonio muttered, "Isn't it time for your siesta?" Lovino suddenly yawned at the word 'siesta' and Antonio cooed slightly at how cute he thought the Italian looked when he was tired, "I'd better take Lovi~ off to his room, now," Antonio said and he carefully walked Lovino down the hallway and into the Italian's room. Alfred patted me on the shoulder.

"So, it's just you and me now, then?" He laughed and I glanced up at him

"It seems so," I replied.

"You still want a hot drink?" Alfred asked, "You can come to my room. I picked Merlin up for you, so he's with Hero at the moment. I swear, Hero's like, in love with Merlin or something, he can't leave him alone!"

I smiled to myself as Alfred and I walked slowly towards his room.

No, I didn't need Lovino's help anymore. After the incident today, I knew why I felt this way. I glanced up at Alfred, my heard beating faster.

I was in love with Alfred F Jones.

* * *

**You have no idea how badly I was fangirling during writing this. So bad, that I smashed my head against my laptop keyboard and turned it off accidently and lost about a paragraph of my work. Thank God for autosave!**

**Haha! Lovino and Antonio! We know what you were doing!**

**Please review!**


	12. Fairytale Of New York

**OMG GUYS IT'S FINALLY HERE!**

**IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE CHRISTMAS, BUT I GIVE YOU THE CHRISTMAS CHAPTER FOR FAME, FORTUNE AND SCREAMING FANBOYS (Can you tell that I'm excited?)**

**Also; Arthur blurts things out when he's tired. Awwwwwww.**

**Warning: I seem to like writing about sexual tensions these days, don't I? Oh, and Lovi's~ in this chapter, so his language needs a warning and angst.**

**Disclaimer: En omista Hetalia (Finnish)**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Fairytale of New York

_The boys of the NYPD choir_

_Were singing 'Galway Bay'_

_And the bells were ringing_

_Out for Christmas day_

_(The Pogues Ft. Kristy MacCol)_

I have to admit that going to New York City for my first Christmas wasn't my idea, at all. In fact, I was planning to go home for Christmas, but when my mother phoned me a week before we split up for the holidays, saying that there just wasn't enough money in the bank to fly me home, it kind of put a damper on things. Two days later, I had Alfred bashing his fist on my door, telling me to start packing because I was coming with him and the band to New York.

"Why?" I asked him as he came strolling into my room with a butter-couldn't-melt look on his face. He picked up Merlin, who was trying to nap on the sofa and hugged him to his chest. Merlin protested loudly and I had to remove him from Alfred's grip.

"Lovino's coming and so are Feliciano and Ludwig and Mattie and Kiku. We're a big team, ya know?" He said and then took Merlin back and buried his face in my cat's fur, "It wouldn't be the same without you."

"And you just assume that I'll go with you to New York? What if I said no?" I grabbed Merlin again and let him wriggle out of my arms so that he jumped back onto the sofa, giving us both an annoyed look.

"I know you will," Alfred said in a sing-song voice and leaning in so that our faces were only inches apart, "Because you're Christmas present is in New York." He closed the gap, pecking me on the corner of my lips before grinning and strolling out of my room, shooting me a cheeky wink before shutting the door behind him. I slid down into the leather armchair, a blush starting to dust at my cheekbones. I know I should have been freaking out like a schoolgirl over him, but all I kept thinking was; "I've got to buy them Christmas present?!"

After rushing out to town to buy emergency (and very cheap) Christmas presents and packing up a small suitcase filled with clothes, toiletries and books, it was soon time to go to the city that never sleeps.

Lovino, Matthew and I sat on the steps to the main school building, our suitcases by our sides and wrapped up in thick jackets and scarves, waiting for some someone to come pick us up and to take us to the airport. A few yards away, Alfred, Gilbert, Francis and Antonio were surrounded by adoring fans, who were all trying to force some sort of token of affection on the four. Antonio was taking the gifts with a large smile and thanking them; Gilbert was grinning widely, but turning down the presents, exclaiming that he was just too awesome for their tokens (and yet… they were swooning over his words… they had all just been rejected, for God's sake!). Francis was taking everything in his stride, flirting and giving simple little touches to his fans and they were just lapping it up. Alfred, on the other hand, was just turning down the gifts saying that he didn't need their tokens to know that they loved him and the band.

I glanced over at Matthew and Lovino, who were shooting daggers at the fans (Matthew did this more subtly, while Lovino couldn't care less who saw his jealousy).

"Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies," I said and the two turned to look at me.

"They are our enemies," Lovino muttered, "They're all over them! Bastards!" He then proceeded to stare at me. "Why aren't you looking like you want to kill them?"

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked, wrapping my scarf tighter around my neck and pressing the fabric against my nose to try to warm it up.

"Well, you like Alfred, don't you?" Matthew looked at me too. I will tell you now I DIDN'T freak out and start blushing and I absolutely DIDN'T start babbling like an idiot. I swear. I didn't look like a git either. I then sighed and rubbed at my forehead with my hand.

"There's nothing between us," I admitted, "So why should I be jealous?"

"Because Jesse's trying to make a move on Alfred," Matthew replied, his gaze now back to the band and, sure enough, Jesse was full on flirting with Alfred, leaning up to get closer to him. Just as Jesse was about to kiss Alfred on the cheek, a large bus came rolling up the driveway to the school and stopped just in front of the building. The bus was black, with tinted windows so you couldn't see the interior and printed on the vehicle's side was two large playing cards; one was the ace of diamonds and the other was the three of clubs.

"Sweet! We're talking the tour bus!" I heard Alfred cry, his attention snapping away from his adoring fans, "No flying for us!" The door to the bus opened, and Elizabeta stepped out onto the driveway, a large smile on her face.

"Okay boys!" She cried, "We've got an hour to get everything packed on the bus, so get moving!"

* * *

It took an hour and a half for us to get all the suitcases into the storage compartment and to be ready. It didn't help that Francis kept wanting to go back into his suitcase to get something every five minutes; his phone, his headband, his bloody hairbrush; and at one point, when we were about to set off, Ludwig suddenly realised that it was too quiet and that Feliciano was nowhere to be seen. We'd locked him in the storage compartment, where he was sleeping on top of Gilbert's suitcase, because Feliciano is apparently that dim.

When we had everything we needed, and when everyone was in attendance, we finally got going.

We travelled on the bus for nearly twenty one hours before we got to New York. We were constantly stopping and starting at road side restaurants and pit stops for food (Antonio and Lovino ran out of tomatoes at one point, Feliciano was demanding pasta for most of the trip and Alfred just wanted fast food. "Travelling makes me hungry," he has stated at one point, to which we all rolled out eyes at the poor excuse), and multiple toilet breaks (Gilbert had 'accidently' clogged up the bus' loo, so it was out of order for most of the trip. I don't even want to think about how he managed it).

When we finally reached the Big Apple, it was coming up to six o clock, the morning after we set off. Exhausted and aching, we tumbled off the bus and into the brightly lit hotel lobby.

"Right," Elizabeta said as she herded us towards the reception desk. She didn't look at all tired, to be honest with you. She looked as fresh as a daisy instead, "You'll all be sharing a room with someone else to cut back on our expenses. Kiku, Matthew and Feliciano will be sharing, as will be Lovino and Arthur. Gilbert, Alfred and Ludwig will be in a room together, which leaves Antonio and Francis. As your legal guardian for the next few weeks, I should be telling you all not to go room swapping, but to be honest, I couldn't care less," She brushed some hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. She then grinned, "Have fun now," and grabbed her key. She left in a flurry of long brown hair and floral perfume.

The rest of us followed suit, but with a lot less enthusiasm than the band's manager. Lovino and I grabbed the to our hotel room and near dragged ourselves up to the fourth floor of the building. As we entered, I ignored the cream wallpaper, the two plush beds and the burgundy carpets. All I was interested in was getting some shut eye. Lovino and I both stumbled around, getting our pyjamas on and into one of the beds as fast as possible. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I was out like a light.

* * *

I heard as knock on the door as I started to drift back into consciousness. I rolled over and buried my head deeper into the pillow, my fingers clutching at the satin bed sheets in desperation to get just a few more minutes before I fully awake.

"Lovi~~!" I heard Antonio cry and a few good curses from the Italian himself. Maybe he just got up… And then the laugh of Alfred cut through the air.

"Is Arthur up yet?" Alfred asked.

"He's still asleep," Lovino replied. Footsteps against the soft carpets got louder and louder and I eventually felt a finger poking at my cheek.

"Artie?" Alfred said quietly, "Get up Artie!" I groaned slightly and slowly peeled back an eyelid. Alfred looked down at me with bright eyes and I pulled the duvet up over my head. "No you don't!" Alfred laughed as he pulled the duvet back and I glared at him. "It's bad enough that you've already missed lunch!" I rolled over onto my front.

I felt the bed dip and I looked around to see Alfred perched on the edge, smiling over at me without a care in the world. I finally uttered the strength to sit up, and I rested my head against his shoulder. His arm reached up to rub my back and I closed my eyes, humming slightly.

"How'd you sleep?" Alfred asked and I groaned again.

"Mattress was lumpy and too soft," I muttered, "Your chest is comfier."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," I lifted my head and glanced over to where Lovino and Antonio were standing, watching us in amusement, "Did you just say that Alfred's chest is comfier than the fucking mattress?" I fell back against my pillow.

"Yeah. He slept on my chest when he was round my place for Thanksgiving," Alfred explained. Lovino's jaw dropped and then walked out of the hotel room, questioning why we weren't fucking each other already. Antonio scrambled after him, leaving Alfred and I alone in the room.

"Elizabeta's parading anyone who isn't dressed yet around the hotel naked," Alfred said, "So get up," I raised an eyebrow at him. "She'll do it. I'm freaking terrified of her."

I was up, dressed and still very tired in minutes.

* * *

For two days, all I did was tour around New York and, after much deliberation; I have decided that I don't like New York.

New York is just too busy for my liking and it was bad enough that I was getting dragged around by someone (and by someone, I mean Alfred). By Christmas Eve, I was bloody shattered, my feet were aching and I felt pissed at everything about New bloody York. It didn't help that the paparazzi were trying to get a picture at every opportunity when we were out the hotel.

At this point, I was pretty much ignoring what everyone was talking about as we all sat in the drawing room. I watched the lights on the Christmas tree twinkle every now and again, my chin resting on the palm of my hand.

"I can't believe that Christmas is tomorrow~" Antonio said as he pulled Lovino into his lap. Lovino tried to wriggle away, but the Spaniard kept a firm grip on him, "_Mi papá_ (My dad) sent me my Christmas presents and they arrived this morning."

"How many were there?" Francis asked and Antonio pondered for a moment.

"Ahhhhh… more than I can count!" He decided. That'll be more than ten then.

"I got this mass load of presents from my parents last night," Gilbert said, "They love the awesome me so much!"

"Weren't half of those presents for your brother?" Francis asked and Gilbert's grin fell slightly.

"Ja, but there was still a shit ton." Gilbert then turned to me, "How many presents have you got, Eyebrows?" Something in my head suddenly clicked and I felt rage running through my veins and turning my blood to ice. I looked at Gilbert, pure anger in my eyes.

"None," I muttered, "Because Christmas is cancelled for me this year. Because, unlike you lot, I'm not rich and due to the fact of not being rich, I couldn't go home for Christmas this year." Quick, nervous glances were exchanged between the group, before they all looked back at me.

"We're sorry, Art," Alfred said, "We… we really are."

"It doesn't bloody seem like it, with the way you wankers flaunt your money around like it's nothing," I rub at my temple, "All I wanted to do was go back home for… a week! Instead I'm dragged to this fucking city, which I bloody hate." I looked at Alfred. "You pay for me to bloody come here, but you could have paid to send me home!" Alfred was suddenly out of his chair.

"I was just doing a good deed!" He cried. "You could have said no!"

"I didn't want to!" I got up out of my chair as well, "Because I knew that saying yes would make you happy, okay?" Alfred suddenly seemed lost for words (There's a first for everything…). "Seeing you happy, makes me happy, okay?!" Panic suddenly spread as the whole room was now staring at me. Did I just… out myself? I shook my head. "I'm going up to my hotel room. Don't even try to disturb me until Boxing Day at the earliest." I turned and briskly walked from the room.

I didn't look at anyone as I made my escape to my room. I blanked and ignored everyone until I reached the lobby and I heard someone call my name. It wasn't Alfred. It wasn't Lovino or Matthew or Francis or any of that lot either. I turned slowly and I saw a small woman with short blonde hair, tied back into a messy bun. She wore a thick skirt that came down to her knees, sensible black shoes and a thick black cardigan. Small spectacles framed her grey eyes and slightly hid her freckles. In her right hand, she held a floral suitcase. She smiled at me.

"M-Mum?" I asked and walked up to her. I placed my hands on her cheeks, just to check that she was actually there and that it wasn't my imagination.

"Hello, poppet," She replied and I threw my arms around her. I hadn't seen her since September. She felt smaller, thinner.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded when I finally released her, "I thought there wasn't enough money to get you here!"

"A friend of yours; Alfred I believe his name was; called your brother and asked if he could pay to send me over," Mum explained as she collected her key from the reception desk and started to head up to her hotel room. "Scott gave him my number and then we chatted. I declined at first, but he just insisted. He told me that it was going to be your Christmas present." My eyes widened. "There wasn't actually any money in the bank anyway, so if your friend hadn't called, we would be seeing each other." She put her arm around me in a half hug and kissed my cheek.

Alfred…

"Mum?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" She unlocked the door to her hotel room and entered, gasping at the sight of it all. I waited and shut the door behind us.

"What else do you know about Alfred?" I asked and she stopped. I saw her lips press together slightly and she looked at me, disapprovingly.

"You know how I feel about people like that, Arthur." She muttered as she pulled her suitcase onto her bed and unzipped it. I looked down at the carpet. "I know your brother also tried to keep this from me, but I'm not an old woman. Not yet. I can deal with my sons going against their word. You boys seem very reluctant to tell me things."

"I'm sorry, Mum." I sighed. "I never met for this to happen, truly, but… when I found out about him, I was already in too deep to get out again." Mum stepped towards me and reached up to peck me on the forehead.

"Do you trust him?" She asked. I didn't even need to pause to answer.

"Yes."

"Will he hurt you?"

"No, Mum."

"Does he do anything illegal?"

"Of course not!"

"Then I will let you make your own decisions." Mum then went back to sorting out her suitcase and hanging her clothes up, humming 'Jingle Bells' to herself. I took a few deep breaths.

"Mum," She looked up at me, "I'm going to have to leave you for a while. I'll be back soon." She smiled gently at me.

"Take your time dear." She then got back to unfolding her clothes.

* * *

Alfred was sat at a black piano, playing a soft tune that sounded vaguely familiar. His head was down, his eyes closed as his long fingers moving slowly across the ivory keys. He opened his eyes and stopped playing. I cleared my throat and his swung round to glance up at me. At that moment, all the things I thought I was going to say, all the words I had planned had disappeared. I want to apologise, to thank him to just… say something…

"You saw her, then?" Alfred asked and turned back around to the piano. I stepped forward, coming up beside him. I tapped the tips of my fingers against the dark wood and faced Alfred.

"I don't know what to say, Alfred," I replied.

"You could say a million things," He suggested. "You could say 'hakuna matata' or 'keep calm and carry on'." I raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned. "You could also say 'thank you' or. 'I'm sorry for acting like a dick' or 'I was wrong! You don't just go flaunting your money around after all'." I paused for a second.

"Thank you, Alfred." I murmured. Alfred shifted slightly on the stool, moving to the left. He then patted the leather to invite me to sit down. We were both half on and half off when I sat, but we really didn't care. Alfred set his hands against the keys again and started to play the song 'Fairytale of New York'. He sang along too, his voice low and harmonious with the piano. He then turned to me as his playing picked up slightly.

"You want me to sing?" I asked and he nodded. "I don't sing."

"Have a bit of fun, Artie! Let that stick out of your ass once in a while, okay?" So, I reluctantly sang the parts of Kirsty MacCol. We sang together, and we laughed whenever one of us got the lyrics wrong and belted out the chorus when it came around. As the piece finished, I hummed as the tune under my breath and rested my head against Alfred's shoulder. Alfred took his hands off the keys.

"Arthur?" Alfred whispered after a while and I pulled my head up from his shoulder. His eyes were fixated on the large window that took up nearly the entire wall. Outside, fat, white flakes of snow were falling so rapidly that each one of them looked like a shooting star. I got up from the stool and went to the window. Pressing my palms against the frigid glass, I stared out into the endless amount of dancing snowflakes.

"It's beautiful!" I said as I felt Alfred lightly touch my shoulder. "It's almost magical! A white Christmas!" I smiled. Alfred's hand moved up from my shoulder to lightly grab my chin and turn my head so that my attention was on him. Only him.

"Don't say anything," His voice was low and husky as he brought his face closer to mine, "Just… let me do this." I could feel his hot breath against my face and, hesitantly, his eyes scanned mine as though he was searching for an answer, before he gathered up all his courage and brought his lips down to mine.

It. Was. Heaven. I could feel thousands and thousands of little fireworks going off in my stomach all at once. My eyes closed slowly and I started to kiss back, our mouths moving against each other. My hands moved up to clutch at the fabric of his t-shirt, and the hand of Alfred's that wasn't holding my chin travelled across my shoulder to cup the nape of my neck.

Suddenly, our bodies seemed to want more as the kiss grew more frantic and the grip on my chin disappeared to be replaced with an arm wrapping around my waist, pulling me against him.

I moaned, my lips parting slightly to give Alfred all the invitation he needed to slip his tongue in.

As our mouths battled it out for dominance, we were completely wrapped up in ourselves. We were snogging, pretty much, against the window and we couldn't care less if the paparazzi saw us (although, we were quite a few floors up, so they couldn't really see us to be honest). That was the furthest thing from our minds as Alfred moved my shirt up to rub small circles into the skin of my hip with his thumb. His hand moved slightly lower, and he was oh so dangerously close to cupping my arse.

Our mouths parted and we stood there, panting heavily. Both our lips were swollen and tingling with pleasure.

"Holy shit," Alfred breathed, his eyes locked on mine, "That was fucking amazing." I nodded slightly. I was completely lost for words. I closed my eyes again as he leaned down to press his lips to the crook of my neck. He worked his way up, leaving a trail of small kisses in his wake and, when I could feel his breath against my hair, he whispered, "Go out with me," and then nibbled my ear.

My eyes opened in a flash, and I struggled to register what he had just said.

"What?" I pushed him back, so that he wasn't trying to molest my ear anymore.

"Go out with me," He repeated and looked me square in the eye with a small smile, "Be my boyfriend." My jaw dropped.

"No." I replied. I often wonder why I said no, but… it was best for me, at the time to say no. I wasn't trying to play with his feelings, or mine either; I just had to think about the consequences.

"Wait… why?" Alfred suddenly looked hurt. "Did you not see what happened for the past five minutes?" He let go of me and stepped back. "Did I do something wrong? Shit, was I a horrible kisser?"

"No, no, no!" I cried, trying to calm him down. "Alfred, the kiss was fine. It was… more than fine, it was the best kiss I had ever experience. But, Alfred, I need to think about everything around me before I go out with you, okay? I have to think about my brother and my Mum and…" I stepped forward and rested my forehead against his chest and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "I'm sorry. But now's not the right time."

* * *

"E' NATALE!" I was awoken by someone jumping on the bed. I rolled over to see Feliciano jumping up and down and then going to Lovino's bed and jumping up and down on that one too. Lovino reached up to grab Feliciano's arm and dragged him down from the bed.

"Who the fuck let you in here?" Lovino demanded as Feliciano bounced from foot to foot, a big smile on his face, when suddenly Antonio came from behind and lifted Lovino up by his waist.

"¡Feliz Navidad, Lovi~" Antonio laughed as he swung his Italian around a bit. Lovino hit him on the head and Antonio let him down. In the doorway, I saw Ludwig, Gilbert and Alfred looking sleepy. Apparently, they had been woken up by Feliciano too. Alfred padded over to me and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Morning." I yawned.

"Merry Christmas," He smiled as Matthew, Kiku and Francis finally piled into the room.

"Great! Yes, everyone come the fuck in! Eyebrows and I haven't just woken the fuck up! Nope! Not at all!" Lovino cried sarcastically and Antonio nuzzled his cheek to the tired Italian's. I fell back against my pillow and Alfred pulled me back up again.

"Come on," He said, "Up and at 'em!" I pushed back, but Alfred had a strong grip on my arm. He quickly caught me into a tight hug, pulling me so far forward that I fell off the bed. He got a slap on the arm for that.

"Just letting you know, before you deny anything," Francis said to Alfred and me, "I saw you two last night." We both froze, our eyes locked on Francis. He pulled his phone from his pocket. "I also took a picture, as evidence and I showed everyone after I took it, so you can't really deny it. _Dites à tous_ (Tell all)."

"Does that mean you two are fucking now?" Gilbert asked, "Because the sexual tension was suffocating us." Alfred and I looked at each other and I buried my head in his shoulder.

"We're not fucking, or going out," Alfred admitted, "Arthur needs time to think." I heard Lovino scoff.

"Get over yourself," He muttered and the room fell into silence.

"Can we open presents now?" Feliciano asked. I pulled my head from Alfred's shoulder.

"Why don't we all go get our presents and bring them back here?" Matthew suggested and we all nodded. That's when we all started rushing around to find the presents that we had hidden at the bottom of our suitcases. I had just grabbed the small gifts from my bag when I heard my Mum's voice.

"Good morning, poppet," She said as we hugged. "Merry Christmas,"

"Merry Christmas, Mum," I repeat as she pressed a small kiss to my cheek.

As the rest of day dragged on, presents were exchanged, laughter was had and a large dinner was served for us. The afternoon had us all sat in front of the (fake) fireplace in the drawing room, telling each other stories about past Christmases and winter tales. It was quiet, and peaceful, with the occasional chuckle and random burst of hilarity.

So, Christmas in New York wasn't too bad in the end.

* * *

**I write really the most impossible couples, don't I?**

**Before I say anything else, there's something I would like to say. You can ignore this if you want, but this is just something I need to get off of my chest.**

**Look, guys, I really, really appreciate all the reviews and the feedback you've been giving me. I love it, truly, and I know I don't even say thank you that much. But… a few days ago, I got three reviews and, to be perfectly honest, two of them were rude. I don't mind if you give me a little feedback, or correct me on some spelling/geographical errors that I have made, but swearing at me and calling me rude names, I will not tolerate.**

**I'm not the type of person who argues a lot, in fact, I hate confrontation and petty little spats. I don't do that. I'm a quiet person, but… I get mad. Everyone does and these reviews made me mad. I will ignore and report all/any rude reviews I get from now on. If you don't like my story, then you can simply stop reading it and forget about it. Like it or lump it.**

**But, to everyone who does review, thank you so freaking much. I love you all! From my regulars (Reda, mochiusagi and BlondHedgehogWithaGun) to my one timers, thank you, because I don't think I even ask anyone to review, you guys just do it out of the kindness of your own hearts. It makes me smile.**

**Right. I'm done now.**

**Wolfie out!**

**P.S. Sorry if I missed anyone out, I'm writing this at eleven o'clock at night and I'm literally falling asleep!**


	13. Things I'll Never Say

**Just a quick answer to a guest who asked me about my nationality well… *Holds up the Union Flag* Am British, what what. *Puts on top hat and monocle* I like Sherlock, Doctor Who and fish and chips. I don't like tea though. But you know now :3**

**Warnings: This is so fucking fluffy and angsty, you won't even know what hit you! Oh, and Antonio's surprisingly serious in this one…**

**Also, randomly random gossip… cuttings, or whatever you wanna call them. And you're all gonna wanna read the bottom author's note, kay?**

**Disclaimer: Jag äger inte Hetalia (Swedish)**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Things I'll Never Say

_If I could say what I want to say_

_I say I wanna blow you away_

_Be with you every night_

_Am I squeezing you too tight?_

_If I could say what I want to see_

_I want to see you go down on one knee_

_Marry me today_

_Guess I'm wishin' my life away_

_With these things I'll never say_

_(Avril Lavigne)_

"_It's been an exciting few weeks for the boys of Clubs and Diamonds, as they spend the festive season in New York with some of their friends. But, maybe one or two of these friends are more than they appear. There are specific rumours spreading around that Alfred F Jones, the lead singer of Clubs and Diamonds, paid for Arthur's mother, Ivy Kirkland, to fly over to New York as a "Christmas present". Although both parties have outright denied that there is any romantic interest between the two, that doesn't just seem like something a friend would do._

"_Meanwhile, Antonio Fernández Carriedo and Lovino Vargas have been spotted sightseeing around the city and the two look less like friends and more like, well, a couple. Perez Hilton writes about the two; "Stop denying it, you two. We all know you're more than just childhood friends now!" Neither party has denied or confirmed the rumours as of late, so maybe something happened!_

"_Pictures of Gilbert Beilschmidt and Matthew Williams have come to light of them walking down Fifth Avenue together of them hand in hand and then kissing in a Macy's store. When hounded by reporters, Gilbert kept a firm grip on Matthew's waist. Looks like he's telling competition to back off! If these two ever broke up, the world would be heartbroken!_

_In other news, Prince Jesse Orto Mizzi has been spotted around town, flirting with an unnamed member of Hetalia Academy. Is Prince Jesse starting to get over Alfred? It seems like it!_

_An elite school, nameless at this point, has released plans to alter their curriculum, including adjusting the year groups and creating a new university site. Exciting stuff!"_

* * *

"Alfred, you said that there wouldn't be so much paparazzi." I growled at Alfred as our taxi drew up to the airport's entrance. Alfred shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

"It could be worst," He replied, "They could be haters," I sent a glare his way.

"You've had haters before?" Mum asked and Alfred nodded.

"I've had eggs thrown at me," He replied and Mum gasped. He grinned, "I dodged them though." I rolled my eyes as the taxi stopped reporters swarmed the vehicle. "Don't aggravate them. They're like bees or wasps. They won't sting if you ignore them." Mum and I nodded and Alfred opened the door to step out into the chaos. Mum and I soon followed suit.

Blinding lights flashed and flickered in my face and I squinted slightly to prevent my vision from becoming somewhat impaired. I looked around to see Alfred helping my mother with her suitcase. He glanced up at me and, with a small gesture of his head, I trailed him as we walked into the airport. We were rid of the reporters after we checked Mum in and gave her suitcase in. We were then guided to the luxury suite where we were served drinks and nibbles to occupy us while we waited for boarding to start.

Tea was poured from a lovely decorated teapot into small china cups as we sat back on the sofas. Alfred took a sip of his tea and grimaced slightly at the taste (I honestly don't know why he hates tea; I find it to be a delicious beverage). I shot him a look and he straightened his back and took another mouthful, slurping slightly and sticking his little finger out in a mocking way. I ignored this and placed my cup back on the tray that it had been served on.

"How's Scott?" I asked, as Mum picked up a small biscuit.

"He's got a job," she replied, "In a small pub just a few miles from home."

"Nice to see that's he's working now," I said, which actually mean: _"It's good to know that he's gotten off his bloody arse and is now actually doing something with his life. He can't live on fucking benefits forever or he'd be living on the fucking streets and then where would he be? He's starting to stand on his own two feet now. Good. I mean, he almost twenty one now, that bloody bastard should have gotten a job before now."_

Of course I didn't actually say that.

I was thinking it, though.

"Oh and Mrs Collins next door has become so jealous of your fame now," Mum said, tapping me on the arm slightly. "We were talking over the garden fence a few weeks ago and she said to me that her daughter is smitten with the French boy-"

"Francis," Alfred tried to correct her, but Mum ignored him.

"-So when she found out that you were friends with him, she threw a bit of a tantrum! She said it wasn't fair that you were the one getting all the attention!" I cracked a small smile. Mrs Collins' daughter was outright horrible to me. She's a bitch and a spoilt one at that.

The conversations carried on for a good half an hour until an airhostess came into the room. She brushed back a small piece of black hair away from her face and smiled at us.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but the boarding will start soon." And, with that, she exited the room as fast as she came in. Mum sighed and put down her cup, giving me and Alfred a look to say that we should go.

We got to the terminal in ten minutes, where as it should have taken us five. We dawdled, trying to stall as much time as possible before Mum had to get on the plane. In all honesty, it was slightly depressing, the way we kept turning to each other, stopping short and the people behind us bumping into us just so that we would have another conversation that lasted thirty seconds or less. The other travellers gave us wary looks as the rushed past us, glancing first towards Mum and then to me, and finally to Alfred. As soon as they saw Alfred, they seemed to instantly forgive us for the actions that we kept repeating every two seconds.

The mood got even more disheartening when we actually got to the terminal, when Mum looked me over and gave me her signature sad smile. I had seen this smile so many times before, firstly when she came to tell Scott and I that Dad had passed away.

"Boys," She had said, giving us that smile and sitting down with us. She placed her arms around us, pulling into a group hug, "The policemen just now… well… they gave me some news…" She paused, taking a deep breath, struggling to keep her calm persona for us. Her bottom lip wobbled slightly, "You're Daddy has been ill for the past few weeks, poppets." Scott and I glanced at each other before looking back at Mum. Tears were welling up in her eyes now and she took another breath, deeper this time. "But… your Daddy's no longer ill."

"Did he get better?" Scott asked, his eyes wide, curious and innocent. Mum shook her head, fighting back tears and trying to be strong for us.

"No," She put it so bluntly, it was hard to believe that she was taking to a five and nine year old, "Daddy's with the angels now."

But now, there were no tears in her eyes, no sadness, just loneliness.

She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug and I returned the embrace. I could hear her sniffing slightly and she then held me at arm's length.

"Don't forget to do all your work and you need to eat more!" She commanded, and I nodded, giving Alfred shut-up look when I saw him snickering to himself, "Give Scott a call sometime, I know that he'd love to hear from you. Oh, and call me if you need anything, sweetheart. My number's on your new mobile." I got a new mobile phone for Christmas from Francis. Everyone immediately took it from me to tap in their numbers without me giving them my consent first.

"This is the last call for Flight 338 to Heathrow," An annoying woman declared from nowhere and Mum and I gave each other a last hug.

"I love you, sweetheart," She said, "And don't forget that. I'm proud of you, and I'm sure your father would have been as well." She wiped a tear away from her eye and then turned to Alfred. Alfred stuck out his hand and she shook it. "I expect you to take good care of my son. Keep an eye on him."

"Yes Ma'am," Alfred grinned, "I hope you have a good flight." She smiled and pulled Alfred into a brief hug, which he quickly returned. Mum let go and pulled her carry-on bag over her shoulder and looked towards where everyone was going.

"Don't exert yourself to much, Mum." I told her. "Please take it easy." Mum nodded.

"I've still got Scott, Arthur, there's no need to worry about me." She took a step away from the two of us. "I'll see you in the summer, okay sweetheart?" I nodded. "Be good." She then turned and walked towards the line of people. An airhostess took her ticket to check and she gave me one last look before disappearing from sight. For a few, exhausting moments, I couldn't tear my eyes away from that spot.

"Jesus, Artie! Are you crying?" The sound of Alfred's voice instantly dropped me back to Earth and I suddenly realised that my eyes and cheeks were damp with tears. I hurriedly wiped them away, giving Alfred a glare.

"No, I wasn't!" I protested and Alfred grinned, "It was probably just a trick of the light!" He reached up and patted me on the head, before dropping the subject completely.

"Come on. If we don't get to the hotel, Elizabeta'll skin us alive," He laughed and he grabbed my hand to tug me from the terminal.

* * *

Another twenty one hour journey later, we were back at the Academy (although we did stay at a sleazy motel overnight, which Lovino outright refuse to go in, that resolved in him (and later Antonio) sleeping on the bus).

"It's official," I muttered as Alfred and I walked towards our rooms, "I bloody hate you!" Alfred slung an arm around my neck.

"Aww, you don't mean it, Artie!" He cried, "I could introduce you, ya know!"

"First of all, it's Arthur, not Artie and secondly, could you?" I looked up at him as I pushed his arm from my shoulders.

"Yes, Arthur, I can introduce you to David Tennant, if you so desired." He pulled his room key from his pocket and unlocked his door, dumping his suitcases down before shutting it again. He waited until my room was accessible before strolling in and plonking himself down on the sofa. I rolled my eyes and dragged in my suitcase. Alfred turned the telly on and channel swapped for a few minutes before settling on E!, where a documentary on his rise to fame was playing.

Vain much?

I started unpacking in my bedroom, first putting all my clothes (folded neatly) into my wardrobe, then placing all of my books back onto the shelves. Then there was the bag with all of my Christmas presents in. I unzipped it and stared at the mount of gifts I had received. The mobile phone, a laptop (from Lovino and Feliciano), a book of classic Grimm's fairytales (Ludwig), a slightly-too-big leather jacket from Gilbert ("The awesome me would have kept it, but I already have two" he had said before getting hit upside the head by his brother), a hat, scarf and glove set made of thick, soft faux fur from Matthew (and some cat toys for Merlin), a rolled up Union Flag poster with the words "Keep Calm and Carry On" from Antonio, and a large set of luxury, expensive teas from Kiku. I picked up the tea and wandered back through to the kitchen.

I looked over at Alfred. The programme about him had finished and he was now watching E! News, his eyes glued to the screen. I nearly dropped the tea when I saw a picture on the telly of Antonio and Lovino, their heads close together, eyes fixed on each other and their lips just centimetres apart from each other. The image was dark, and of bad quality. Behind them you could faintly make out the neon pink sign for the roadside motel we had stayed at. I walked over, and sat down next to Alfred on the sofa, not taking my gaze off the screen for even a second.

"Well, the boys of Clubs and Diamonds have had a very eventful holiday season," The present drawled in a chirpy voice, "But once our favourite band was out of New York, the event just kept on coming. This photo of the band's lead guitarist, Antonio and his so called 'childhood friend' has come to light, spreading even more rumours that the two are, in fact, dating. Boys, this doesn't look like something 'friends' would do, okay?"

"She obviously hasn't seen us…" Alfred muttered, causing me to roll my eyes and ignore him.

"The two have said little about their relationship since the summer, the only comment Lovino made a few weeks ago was "What do you want me to say?" before he walked back into Hetalia Academy grounds. The world will be expecting a happy announcement by the end of the week." I snatched the remote from Alfred hands and changed the channel, before anything else came on. Alfred looked over at me with worry.

"They'll be fine," Alfred said, calmly taking the remote back, "Lovino'll get a bit angsty and Antonio will act like nothing even happened. Which is pretty much how they act every day." He moved closer to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders so that my head could flop down and rest against his cheek.

"I worry about them," I murmured and Alfred pressed a small kiss to my forehead. My face reddened and I closed my eyes. We were like this for a few minutes, until our attention was drawn back to the television, where the Doctor Who opening was now playing.

And then, to distract ourselves, Alfred and I spent the rest of the day –what was the phrase Kiku used a lot? Ah, yes- fangirling over Doctor Who, Torchwood, Merlin and Sherlock. And then Alfred started sobbing over the endings.

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was just manic.

We were all due back to classes that afternoon, meaning that we had the morning off. However, many of the students had come back yesterday, jetlagged and slept through most of the evening and skipped dinner, meaning that they were ravenous. They were rushing up to pile their plates high and the coming back for seconds, sometimes thirds, fighting it out for the last piece of bacon, or hash brown. The noise levels were higher than I had ever heard them before, from the chants of the Muscle Heads; egging their friends on to see how much food they could eat before rushing from the cafeteria, hands over their mouths, to find the nearest bathroom; to the loud screeches and squeals of joy from the Gossips as they were all re-united after three weeks of separation and the disapproving whispers of the Monarchy, who sat in the middle of it all, watching over their 'kingdom' with loathsome sneers plastered on their lips. Jesse sat in the midst of the Monarchy, his eyes trained on the band's table, keeping watch for someone.

So far, Matthew and I were the only ones sitting at our table, as the band itself were sleeping in, Kiku was fixing someone's computer across the cafeteria and our grumpy Italian was nowhere to be seen.

It was only when Lovino burst into the cafeteria, his hair neglected dark circles under his eyes and his uniform was crumpled, the chatter came to a grinding halt. He stalked his way through the silent crowd; his face pulled into a frown and sat down at our table, avoiding eye contact with anyone. As he sat down, Matthew and I glanced at each other with worry, and then looked back at him.

The paparazzi suddenly swooped down on him like vultures to a rotting carcass, cameras flashing and pens hurriedly scribbling nonsense on notepads.

"Lovino! What's your relationship with Antonio like?"

"Are you dating?"

"Have you had sex with him yet?"

Questions battered Lovino from all directions and he glared down at the tabletop. There were even some completely bizarre questions like, "Lovino, what's your thoughts on the state of the Italian economy?" and "Lovino! How do you feel about the new pope?" (Some were very rude as well, but I won't tell you them, for the sake of everyone who was involved in this). Lovino's face was reddening and you could tell that he was trying to hold back his rage.

The sea of cameras, and students suddenly parted like the Red Sea and a very annoyed looking Jesse came into view, his hands on his hips and his nose turned up. He stepped closer, glaring down at Lovino like he was just something nasty that he accidently trodden in. Behind Jesse, a number of the Monarchy had followed Jesse's lead, and giving him their support. Out of his pocket, Jesse produced a piece of paper and slammed it down on the table in front of Lovino. Printed onto the paper was the picture of Antonio and Lovino, their heads too close to being regarded as a gesture of friendship. Jesse then tapped the picture.

"What is this?" He demanded, his voice low and threatening, almost like a growl. Lovino kept his head down and his eyes trained on the table. At Lovino's silence, Jesse took back the paper and scrunched it up in his shaking fist. "Where do you get the balls to do this, Vargas?" Jesse started circling the table, "We, the Monarchy, have overlooked your relationship with Antonio now, because you, apparently, make him happy; God only knows why. The Monarchy is dedicated to making the happiness of our subjects happy, especially the boys from Clubs and Diamonds." Jesse placed a hand on Lovino's shoulder, tugging it sharply, forcing the Italian to look up at the Prince. "Stay away from Antonio, from now on, do you hear me? If you don't, you will be punished. We don't care if you are the Principal's grandson, you will be treated like the bitch you really are."

"_Excusez-moi _(Excuse me), sorry to interrupt." All heads swivelled around to see Antonio, Francis, Gilbert and Alfred standing in the doorway. "But, isn't it more appropriate to allow those who have _tombé amoureux _(fallen in love) to be together instead of trying to separate them." Francis walked towards Jesse. "You say that the happiness of your subjects is your priority, but… you want to upset two who are in love?"

"You idiots make no sense," Gilbert agreed as he came up behind Matthew and wrapped his arms around the Canadian. "If I told you now that Birdie here keeps me happy, would you tell him to cut all ties with me?" Jesse and the rest of the Monarchy looked around hesitantly. Jesse's attention suddenly snapped back to Lovino.

"Well?" Jesse asked. "Are you dating Antonio or not?" Murmurs started to rise, all wanting an answer. I glanced over at Antonio, who, despite himself, was smiling. He wanted to proclaim his love for Lovino so badly, and I could tell. But it was now all up to his Italian. The cameras started to flash again, the noise level edging up ever so slightly, and pens started to jot down notes again.

Lovino suddenly seemed to shatter. He rose from his seat; fists clenched and snapped his head up to look around him.

"Shut the fuck up!" He yelled, but the flashes didn't stop and the pens just scribbled faster, "Fuck you all! You want the truth?! I hate Antonio!"

The world then slowed. Pens started dropping to the floor, cameras were lowered and an eerie hush fell across the cafeteria. All eyes shifted slightly from Lovino towards the door, where Antonio still stood, his eyes wide and staring directly at his boyfriend. I put down my cup of tea that I had been clutching at the time, too shocked to hold it anymore.

"Shit," Lovino whispered.

"L-Lovi?" Antonio muttered, taking a shaky step forward, "Y-You hate me?" I had never seen such sadness in the Spaniard's eyes before. Antonio blinked and frowned. "Fine," he breathed, "After all, you said when we started that it was just fucking." I looked back over to Lovino, just in time to see tears starting to flow down his scarlet cheeks.

He then bolted, past Antonio, who made no effort to try to stop him. All eyes were trained on the door, and Antonio, until one by one, the students started to turn back to their plates and the volume was started to turn back up again. The paparazzi sensed that they should back off and they did, retaking their seats and putting their cameras, pens and notepads away. I stood up, taking one last sip of tea before picking up my bag. As I passed Alfred, he patted my shoulder.

"This school is fucked up," I muttered and he nodded.

"Tell me about it…"

* * *

He didn't go to any of his classes. He didn't show up at break, or lunch time. I thought about going to see him after lunch, but I knew that he'd still be in a foul mood and I didn't want to be on the receiving end of his verbal abuse. Antonio was completely silent throughout the day. All the light and happiness had gone from his eyes and he was dragging himself from room to room. It was painful to watch.

It wasn't until the beginning of my last class of the day that I heard from him. However, Lovino wasn't in my last class, so, when I heard the crackling over the school's PA system, I knew what was happening. The entire class stared up at the speaker in the top corner of the room with wide eyes.

"Is this thing on?" Lovino's voice suddenly cut through the air and I looked down at my notebooks, doodling in the margins of one of the pages. "Shit, it is. Okay…" He took a deep breath.

"Bloody git," I muttered under my breath.

"I know I'm going to get in trouble for this, but I couldn't care less about it, because I've got something to say that you all need to hear." Lovino paused for a second. "This morning, I said something really, really _stupido _(stupid) this morning and… I didn't mean it." He broke off again to try to figure out what he was going to say. "I have known Antonio since I was five years old and ever since that day when he "accidently on purpose" stole the last tomato from my lunch pack, I knew he was going to be a really good friend." He sighed. "The people who actually regard me as something of an _amico _(friend) know that I'm so fucking crap at expressing my feelings that at times people just want to slap me. I am... an incredibly paranoid person. I think that everyone and anyone loves my brother more than me. In my mind, I'm just the fucking idiot who's got something wrong in the head. Antonio made me start to see differently." A door opened in the background and muffled voices could be heard for a few seconds before Lovino continued.

"Antonio made me feel so fucking special that I started to think that maybe I was wrong. Maybe the whole world didn't prefer my brother compared to me. Then I had to go ruin everything by saying that I hated him, which couldn't be further from the truth. _Mi piace Antonio _(I love Antonio), okay? I fucking love him, because he makes me feel like I'm more than what I am. He's the person he keeps me going, because without him, I would have done something very stupid.

"There are so many things that I want to say to Antonio that I know that I'll never say, because I'm too much of a fucking wimp to say them. But, I don't need to say them because he can read me like a fucking book! But Antonio, if you can hear this, which you probably can, then… _te amo _(I love you)… _te amo tanto que me duele _(I love you so much it hurts). _Todo lo que hicimos _(Everything we did)… _era algo más que una mierda _(it was more than just a fuck)." There was a sniffle, and it sounded like someone was trying to hold back tears.

"So… to conclude, I've been screwing your favourite Spaniard behind your backs since the summer and I don't regret a thing. Now, if you'll excuse me, my _Nonno_ is trying to decide whether to cry for me of scald me for breaking into his office. Ciao bitches." There was a lot of crackling and then silence fell across the room. A small smile crept up onto my face and I knew then that Lovino had done the right thing for both him and Antonio.

In the end, he got a detention for abusing school equipment, inappropriate language and breaking into the principal's office.

* * *

Lovino finally got up the courage to find Antonio after his confession to the entirety of the school.

That evening, we decided to retreat to the common room for a bit of relaxation after the eventful afternoon. None of us had homework, as the teachers were generous enough to ease us back into the learning process instead of piling mountains of questions and sheets to answer for the next day.

Antonio and Francis were stood around the pool table, cues in hand as they knocked the brightly colours balls around the green fabric. Alfred and I were sat on two of the plush arm chairs; I was reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, while he sat with a pencil between his lips, trying to compose his next song. Meanwhile, Gilbert was trying to beat Kiku at a game on their PSPs, but Gilbert kept groaning and swearing, while Kiku was just his face as blank as it normally would be. Feliciano, Matthew and Ludwig were peeking over the gamers shoulders, trying to see who was winning.

It was peaceful until Francis looked up from the pool table at Antonio.

"You should have gone after him." the Frenchman stated and Antonio looked up from his position of knocking a yellow ball into one of the corner pockets. He stood up straight, avoiding all eye contact with his band mate.

"Lovino needed to calm down." Antonio replied as Francis then observed the table. I quickly glanced up from my book. "Besides, he probably would have slapped me if I went after him." Francis lined up his cue with the white ball, leaving the conversation hanging in the air like a bad smell. After a while, we all looked up towards the door as it creaked open, revealing a slightly red eyed Lovino. Antonio dropped his cue, his gaze locked onto Lovino's.

Lovino let out a quiet greeting as he stepped into the room. With a hesitant look at Antonio, he then muttered, "I'm sorry…" Lovino fidgeted slightly and then looked up. He had obviously been crying, with tear streaks down his cheeks and his nose was red and he sniffed every so often. Antonio sighed as he picked up his cue again.

"You can say some really mean things, Lovino." He replied. "You really don't think sometimes, do you?" A clock that sat on one of the bookcases ticked loudly, as Lovino ran a shaking hand through his hair. He bit his bottom lip.

"What do you want me to say?" Lovino demanded, his voice louder now. "I've already said so much, Antonio! Do you not know how much trouble I got in for breaking into Nonno's office?" The tears were starting to well up again. It seems as though Lovino had broken down a barrier, and he was struggling to raise it again. Antonio put the cue down on the pool table, and walked towards Lovino, gathering him up in his arms and tightly hugging him as Lovino cried silently into the Spaniard's shirt. Antonio rested his chin on the top of Lovino's head.

"Lovino, I'm going to say this now and I really hope it can get through that thick head of yours." Antonio sighed. "I love you so much, Lovi. The past few months has been phenomenal and so when you said that you hated me, something inside me broke. The thought that you were just using me for sex killed me." Lovino drew himself away to look Antonio right in the eye. "It's always been you, Lovi. You have my heart. Only you, always you!" Antonio grabbed Lovino's shoulders. He then smiled slightly. "Just you."

Lovino then wrapped his arms around Antonio's neck, dragging him down to press their lips together.

And everything in the world was right again.

* * *

"_A statement has come through from Antonio of 'Clubs and Hearts', declaiming what we had all been thinking over the past few months. In the statement, he announced that he and childhood friend, Lovino Vargas were, in fact, dating and had been since the summer._

""_Lovi's a shy person," The guitarist wrote, "He didn't want the media to intrude on the early stages of our new relationship. He wanted a little bit of privacy before we confirmed that we were dating. I love Lovi~ a lot and I know that he loves me too, even if he won't say it."_

"_Even though our handsome Spaniard is now off the menu, it's always good to see him and Lovino happy together."_

* * *

**ASDFGHJKL I hated this chapter to begin with, so I re-wrote most of it. True story.**

**Anyway, I just wanted to give you guys a few details about the next chapter. I'm going to be taking a break from the main story for a few weeks, so to keep you guys entertained, I'm going to be writing an interlude. Basically, it'll be like a talk show, written in script format, and there'll be India asking the cast a load of questions. So, if there was something you didn't get, or wanted to ask about the story itself, just ask in the review box and it'll be featured in the interlude! I won't be saying who sent the questions in, because more than one person might send the same question in, and please! Not too many or my brain'll explode!**

**However, don't ask things like "What's Arthur's past?" or "How's the fic gonna end?", "When are Arthur and Alfred getting together?" Because, I'll be getting to that! Trust me! I know a few people who really wanna know Artie's past, but we will get there… soon… very soon. Sooner than you think! Just simple little questions.**

**I'm asking too much of you guys now, aren't I? Sorry!**

**Very exciting!**

**I'll see you guys next time!**

**Wolfie out!**


	14. Interlude

**Ahhhhhhh, so here we have it. The interlude! Thank you so much to everyone who asked a question. I also went back through my reviews to see if anyone asked a question earlier on in the story that everyone might like to know. I also put in a few (see: a lot of) questions myself that I thought that people might like so… yeah.**

**But enough of me, you guys just want the gossip! So, here we go!**

**On with the show!**

**Note: Sai Gupta is India. Random name was pulled out of the metaphorical hat**

**Disclaimer: ****Mai****ṁ**** hī nahī****ṁ**** hai Hetalia (Hindi)**

* * *

Interlude

Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for your host, Sai Gupta!

_(The audience cheers and applauds as Sai Gupta comes out onto the stage, a big smile on his face and he bows to his viewers. He's wearing a light grey suit with a white shirt and a pink tie. He waits until the audience has died down before speaking.)_

Sai: Tonight we have a big surprise for all of you. I'm not just interviewing one person, but an entire group of them. I don't think my sofa's going to be big enough. Give it up for the band, Clubs and Diamonds!

_(The audience screams and are on their feet as Alfred, Gilbert, Francis and Antonio come out onto the stage, all wearing some simple jeans and shirts. Sai shakes each of their hands in turn before leading them to a large red sofa, a red arm chair and a glass table. They all take a seat.)_

Sai: It's great to have you boys here tonight.

Antonio: We're happy to be here!

Sai: _(Smiles) _Okay, let's get straight to it then, shall we? You've got a very interesting band name. How did you come up with it?

_(The boys look between each other and they point to Antonio)_

Antonio: A few years back, before we recorded our first album, we and our producers and our manager sat down to brainstorm ideas for a band name. We couldn't come up with anything good so we left it for a while. A few days later we were playing poker and that's when the name came to us.

Sai: What other names had you come up with at the time?

Alfred: Pretty much anything you can think of. Some of the more interesting ones were "International Love" and "Rubik's Cube" and "Diet Lemonade".

Gilbert: To say that we weren't very good at coming up with names, is an understatement.

Sai: I think it would have been interesting to see how you would have turned out like if you had a band name like "Diet Lemonade"! Next question, where do you get your inspiration from?

Francis: Inspiration can just come to us, we don't think about. When we hear a small beat or when someone says something in just the right way, we take that away and we create something amazing with it.

Sai: Very poetic. What bands or musicians, do you think, are similar to you when you play?

_(There's a slight pause)_

Alfred: I like to think that what we play is a mix between Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Boys Like Girls.

Sai: So you play more rock?

Alfred: It's more pop rock and alternative. Sometimes we try something different, for example one of most resent songs "Tangled Web" was much darker than what we'd normally play. You can thank Gilbert for that.

Gilbert: I listen to a lot of heavy metal.

Alfred: And other times you can hear a little banjo in the background to some of our songs.

Sai: Banjo?

Francis: Thank Alfred's country music roots for that. We thought the banjo was crazy too, until you actually put it in there, and it sounded amazing. It was like the icing on the metaphorical cake

Sai: You've recently raised over fifty eight thousand dollars for an international children's charity with an album you released with your girl rivals, Upgraded Resistance.

_(Cheering and applause from the audience)_

Sai: What was it like to work with the girls on this album?

Gilbert: It was really fun experience to record that album, because we'd never done a join song, let alone an album before. The girls were really bubbly and excited about it.

Antonio: It was just something different, you know? And we all came back from it, having learnt something new about the music world. It was just a real pity that Elizabeta wasn't in contact with the girl's manager earlier, so we could have raised even more money.

Sai: Speaking of your manager, Lovino once described her as "A gay man's worst nightmare," but what do you guys think about her?

_(The band mates give each other uneasy glances)_

Alfred: _(Sighs) _No matter what we say about her, she'll still give us an earful later on. She's very… out there. She doesn't care about what grades we get. She cares about us and our music. We can go to her, you know?

Gilbert: She's possibly both the worst and best manager you could get.

Antonio: She's very weird when it comes to our relationships. I remember one time she threw condoms at us and told us to "have safe sex"…

_(The audience and Sai laughs)_

Francis: But overall, she's like the substitute mother for us. If we do need to talk to someone or you've got a problem, she's the one to go to. She's very understanding and she'll constantly say, "I've seen everything. Sit down and tell me."

Alfred: She's more than our manager, she's a friend and we love her.

Sai: Well, that's very sweet, and she sounds like a very interesting person. But now, shall we get the rest of the boys out here, shall we?

_(The audience shouts their approval)_

Sai: Please, welcome to the stage, Arthur Kirkland, Lovino Vargas and Matthew Williams!

_(Arthur, Lovino and Matthew walk out onto the stage and Sai gets up from his chair to shake their hands. Arthur is wearing smart trousers, a white shirt and a green sweater vest, Lovino wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt with a waistcoat and Matthew wearing his red hoodie and some baggy jeans. There's some rearranging of seat so that Alfred, Arthur, Lovino and Francis are sitting on the sofa and Gilbert, Matthew and Antonio are standing behind it)._

Sai: Right, so we were just talking about the band's manager, what do you, Arthur, Lovino and Matthew, think of her?

Arthur: Slightly eccentric, but she's nice enough.

Matthew: I think she's very nice.

Lovino: I stand by what I said.

Sai: Okay, onto some group questions now, let's start with… how do you feel about Jesse, the Monarchy and the hierarchy that keeps making itself present at the Academy?

Alfred: Jesse's a bitch.

_(There was a mummer of agreement through the group)_

Lovino: The Monarchy is just a little fan club, where the richest and the Royals get together and fanboy over the band. It's pathetic to think that they rule the school.

Arthur: And the hierarchy itself is just atrocious! It's terrible to think that the people who are judged are put at the bottom and who have the least say in what happens. To say that the school is fucked up is an understatement.

Sai: So, is this something that the school board needs to stop, or do you think that it'll just keep going?

Alfred: It's not gonna stop. No matter how much the teachers get involved. It's the same in every school. Anyone who isn't pretty or skinny or 'normal' in a sense is looked down upon and rejected by society. We can't stop it. The best thing to do is to just ignore it, get on with your studies and only think about the people who are gonna be there for you no matter what.

Sai: Continuing on with Hetalia Academy, it has a very high number of students engaging in same sex relationships. What are your thoughts on this?

Francis: We are teenage boys. We have urges too!

_(Slight laughter from the audience)_

Alfred: It happens, sometimes. It's just coincidence that the Academy is high in same sex relationships.

Sai: What has the teachers done about this?

Arthur: They force condoms and lube onto us.

_(The audience laughs)_

Arthur: No, I'm serious. At least once a month we have a talk in our homeroom about safe sex and the teachers literally give us condoms. I feel really sorry for Tino when that happens because he looks like he wants the earth to open up and swallow him. It also really doesn't help that, because there are so many students from different countries, we seem to have no regard for American laws.

Alfred: In America, you can have sex at eighteen however that depends on what state you're in, whereas in other countries, it's younger than that. For example, in Britain, Russia and Canada, the legal age is sixteen, in Spain it's thirteen and in Italy it's fourteen. Different laws for different countries.

Sai: Has there been any problems with homophobia in the Academy, or is it generally just accepted?

Matthew: I had a problem with homophobia when I first started at the Academy, but Gilbert soon sorted them out.

Gilbert: No one messed with my Birdie! _(He puts his arm around Matthew's waist)_

_(Some of the audience "aww"s.)_

Francis: Generally, homophobia isn't a problem. We've all learnt to keep our opinions to ourselves, or listen to another's and respect it. However, we do get a few outbursts every now and again, but it normally settles within a day or two.

Sai: Speaking of homophobia. Alfred, have you heard from your aunt and uncle since Thanksgiving?

Alfred: Not really. They try to stay away from me or avoid discussing me; however they did send me a card for Christmas, with a leaflet on "How to defeat the devil in me". I threw the thing away though. And my parents say that they disapprove of my relationship with "The British Whore."

Arthur: _(Rolls his eyes) _I don't approve of them either…

Sai: Well, as people often says, "Haters gonna hate!" Arthur you've constantly said no to Alfred, and we completely understand that you've got other people to worry about at the moment. So, how would you describe your relationship with Alfred?

Arthur: Well, we're still friends, but… _(He pauses)_ It's difficult to explain.

Alfred: Let's put it this way. We're friends with benefits. But we're also now, because I'm not getting laid every night.

Gilbert: Instead they watch each other with lust filled eyes, make out every now and again, and constantly deny themselves of what they both want, which is sex.

Arthur: I believe that was my question, Gilbert.

Gilbert: He wanted a straight answer. So I gave him one.

Sai: _(Clears his throat) _So, Alfred, why did you decide to become friends with Arthur rather than leaving him alone like you would do with everyone else?

Alfred: Normally, when I meet someone the first reaction goes one of two ways. Either they see me and scream and ask for an autograph, a picture, a lock of my hair of them to have my babies. _(The audience laughs) _I know, right? Or they literally look me up and down and say that they hate me. So, when Artie literally bumped into me and dropped that box of books on his feet, I thought he dropped them because of me. But then he looked at me like I was a normal human being, instead of "Alfred F Jones, lead singer!" You know?

Sai: So, it was because he didn't know who you were?

Alfred: Pretty much. He not knowing who I really was meant that I could actually be myself, and if he liked who I was, then that was fine.

Arthur: Yes, but I found out eventually.

Alfred: I thought you were going to treat me differently after that, but you didn't.

Arthur: I don't see why celebrities should be treated differently just because they're famous.

Alfred: And that's why I'm friends with Artie!

Arthur: It's Arthur, you dingbat.

Sai: So, when did you fall for Arthur?

Alfred: _(He thinks for a moment) _It must have been when he looked up at me when he bumped into me. It was the eyes. His eyes are really pretty! I mean, they're a really bright shade of green.

Arthur: _(Blushes and looks away)_

Sai: And Arthur, when did you fall for Alfred?

Arthur: _(He groans) _Do I have to say?

Lovino: Yes.

Alfred: I told my story! Tell yours! Please Artie?

Arthur: Urgh, fine. It was when Alfred followed me after the Flying Mint Bunny and the flagpole incident. I mean, I was upset and I really didn't want to see anyone, but… he didn't say anything. He just hugged me whilst I cried on his shoulder. It was comforting to have him there. I mean, it was… upsetting.

_(The audience "awws" again, and there's a moment as Alfred wraps his arms around Arthur, asking if he's okay. Arthur gives a small nod. Sai clears his throat and decides that it would be best if he changed the subject now.)_

Sai: Arthur, you've mentioned multiple times that you've got an older brother called Scott. Any chance we're gonna see him soon?

Arthur: I can't say at the moment. He's very busy with his new job and he's really got to prove that he is a responsible adult. Since he was sixteen, he's been in and out of jobs, lasting only a few weeks before he got sacked for something or other. He's got to buck up his ideas.

Sai: You have a lot to say about him, don't you?

Arthur: He's my brother. I always have an opinion about him.

Sai: And your opinion is…?

Arthur: I hate to admit it, but he's a good brother. He may not look it, but he shows it in the strangest of ways. He's really trying to be a better person. Not just for Mum, but for me too. Don't tell him I said that he's a good brother. Compliments go straight to his head.

Sai: We'll try and keep it a secret! What happened after the last chapter ended?

Francis: We drank, we flirted, and sex was had by all!

Matthew: Which translates to, Gilbert got drunk, Alfred flirted with Arthur, who was trying to read, and Antonio and Lovino left early to celebrate their relationship.

Sai: Okay… can you give us a sneak peak of what's to come in the next chapter?

Arthur: Well… I have an extract here. _(He pulls a sheet of paper from his pocket and hands it over to Sai)_

Sai: Let's read it then, shall we?

_ (The audience cheers and Sai waits until the audience has quietened before starting)_

"I've never recalled this story to anyone, so I felt very uneasy as Alfred stared down at me with his curiously bright eyes. I took a long swig of bourbon whiskey before glancing back up at Alfred.

"You know, this isn't an easy tale for me." I muttered and he nodded, taking a seat on the bed and causing the mattress to dip slightly. "I could cry." I would cry. I knew I would.

"Then I'll be here." He replied. "I've got a good shoulder, you've cried on it before." I scoffed and took another sip of alcohol.

"That wasn't my fault though. I didn't choose to cry that day." I sat back against the soft pillows and then sighed. "Well, if you really want to know…""

_(The audience cheers, stamping their feet for more)_

Sai: I'm sorry, folks. That's all we've been given! And we're coming to the end of our time!

_ (The audience groans in sadness)_

Sai: Just one more question before you go, how close are you guys?

Matthew: I think the best way to describe us if that we're like a family.

Gilbert: You don't want to be around us, but you've got no choice in the matter!

Sai: Well, thank you all so much for coming on! I really hope that everything goes well for all of you in the future. Clubs and Diamonds, Arthur Kirkland, Lovino Vargas and Matthew Williams everyone!

_ (The crowd is on their feet, giving a standing ovation as each guest shakes hands with Sai one last time before leaving the stage, waving to the crowd as they do so. The credits start to roll across the screen)._

Sai: That's it for now! I'd like to thank each of my guests for being here tonight. Join me next time, when I'll be speaking to Jennifer Lawrence about what it's like to be Katniss Everdeen. Goodnight!

* * *

**That was fun!**

**I hope you guys like the preview of what's next!**

**Wolfie out!**


	15. Dark Side

**Ciao miei lettori dolci~~ Come va~?**

**Translation: Hey bitches, what's up?**

**No, that's not the actual translation… Google Translator it. But… you know… its close enough.**

**So! Back to a little bit of FFASF are we~? Haha, of course we are~~**

**I'm not writing in Sweden's accent. It's too hard. Sorry! (Although, it doesn't matter. I mean, he only gets, like, one line, so…)**

**Warnings: Language, underage drinking, Arthur getting all depressed, and some sexually sexual scenes… maybe… if you're lucky… Oh, and Jesse trying to get dat Florida. If you know what I mean~~ *Suggestive eyebrow wiggle***

**Disclaimer: Ég eiga ekki Hetalia (Icelandic)**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

Dark Side

_Everybody's got a dark side_

_Do you love me?_

_Can you love mine?_

_Nobody's a picture perfect_

_But we're worth it_

_You know that we're worth it_

_Will you love me?_

_Even with my dark side?_

_(Kelly Clarkson)_

You could feel a buzz starting to fire up into the air whenever you walked down a corridor. Valentine's Day was coming up and; as Principal Vargas was such a romantic, according to Lovino; it was decided that there would be a Valentine's Dance to celebrate the occasion.

The buzz was murderous. Everyone was trying to find a date as quickly as possible before the dance (which was in two weeks), and it was first come first served. And we all knew that most of them wanted one of the remaining two band member served to them on a silver platter. But we all knew that that wasn't going to happen, so anyone who got within five yards of the two with the intent to ask one of them to the dance was immediately going to get shot down.

"I'm not saying yes to anyone," Francis explained, "Because then I can dance with so many of my faithful fans and then everyone can feel loved."

"Which translates to: "I want to feel up as many boys as possible before the night is out"." Lovino muttered and I held back a chuckle. Francis then pouted and started to pick at the food on his plate again. It was dinnertime on a Friday and so far, no less than eight students had come up to our table asking for Francis or Alfred (apparently, they weren't picky) to take them to the dance. They usually broke down and starting crying after they were rejected. Just as we were finishing, a familiar shadow fell across the table and we all looked up to see the smirking face of Jesse. Behind him were two of his followers from the Monarchy, who tittered at everything and everyone.

"Why do I have to sudden urge to gag?" Lovino muttered and Jesse shot him a glare. He then turned his attention back to Alfred.

"Alfie," He sang as he shoved me off my chair and sat down in my seat. Lovino helped me up from the floor. "You know what I really, really, really want?"

"A straightjacket?" I coughed under my breath, but Jesse either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me. Alfred sighed and, to amuse Jesse, asked him what he wanted in a very bored voice.

"I really want to go with you to the Valentine's Dance." He said, his voice rose slightly to make him sound more like a girl. Alfred put his knife and fork down on his plate and looked around at Jesse.

"Jesse, how many times to I have to say it? I hate you. Get lost." Alfred said as he picked up his bag and stood up. Jesse grabbed his arm.

"Oh, but you don't understand, Alfie!" Jesse cried, his eyes widened to make try to make them more noticeable, when really, he just looked weird. "I've changed, Alfie, I swear I have!" Alfred raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I'll never, ever look at another man again, Alfie. Only you." Lovino coughed and pulled the school's gossip paper from his bag.

"'Recent sightings of Jesse Orto Mizzi the third walking around town and the school grounds with a member of the school's soccer team have come to light. Pictures taken have shown them flirting, laughing and hugging.'" Lovino glanced up at Jesse, whose face was now red and his eyes were burning in anger. "'It's about time Jesse got over Alfred, as the rock sensation appears to be indulging in a little British culture, if you know what I mean.'" Lovino put the magazine down on the table, showing Jesse and the unnamed soccer star hand in hand and walking around the town. Lovino smirked slightly. "If I were you, I'd stop lying and leave Alfred alone." Jesse got up from my seat and stormed off, his lackeys trotting after him and telling him what he wanted to hear (that he was amazing, perfect and awesome all at the same time).

Alfred sighed in relief and grinned at Lovino.

"Thanks." He said and Lovino nodded to him. "I'd better go, I've got English homework." Alfred shrugged his bag onto his shoulder and walk away from the table, his fingers tapping the back of my hand lightly as he did so. I watched him exit the hall and looked down at my hand. I then glanced back at my empty plate and picked up my bag too.

"Arthur." Francis said and I looked at him. "He wants to take you."

"I know." I muttered.

* * *

Alfred answered the door after the first few knocks and I dumped Hero into his arms. He smiled, squeezed his cat in his arms, which then meowed loudly and purred in delight. Hero then jumped down from Alfred's arms and ran off in search of food.

"I find it amazing that, despite what little intellect your cat has, he's able to find a way into my room just so he can be with Merlin." I said and Alfred grinned.

"Yep, that's Hero!" He replied. After a few comfortable moments of silence, his grin dropped and he reached out and grabbed my hand. His hand was warm on mine as he intertwined our fingers together. I glanced down at our hands and then back up at him. His face had become unusually serious and he reached forward to gently grab the back of my head to press my forehead against his. "I've been thinking, Artie…"

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" I joked and Alfred rolled his eyes, ignoring my comment.

"I want to know, Art." He whispered. "I want to know about why you hat-" He was instantly cut off when he felt a tug on his sleeve, and we both looked down to see a small boy, no older than ten, with soft blond hair, wide blue eyes and wearing a sailor outfit, staring up at Alfred. His lips widened into a big smile and I could see that he was carrying a CD case in his hands.

"It's you!" He cried. "It's really you!" Alfred let go of the back of my head and I stepped back. Alfred smiled down at the boy.

"Hey, kiddo! What's your name, then?" He asked.

"Peter!" Peter cried. "I'm a really big fan of yours!"

"And how old are you, Peter?" Alfred asked, entertaining the boy.

"I'm ten!" Alfred nodded and ruffled the boy's hair. What I wanted to know was; how did he get onto the school property? Everyone at Hetalia Academy was sixteen years or older. Peter held up his CD, which Alfred instantly recognised at the band's latest album. "Can you sign this for me?" Alfred nodded with a grin, took a permanent marker from his pocket and opened the case.

He had just started scribbling on the CD, when another boy, our age this time, and in the school uniform, came up to us, a look of concern on his face. He had very pale hair, violet eyes and a puffin badge on his blazer.

"Peter!" He called and the small boy looked up and then pouted. "Where have you been? Your Mama's worried sick!"

"But I found Alfred!" Peter protested. "Papa said that Alfred goes here and I found him!" Alfred closed the CD case and looked up at the new arrival.

"Emil, right? Emil Steilsson?" Alfred asked and Emil nodded. Emil then turned his attention back to Peter and suddenly had a mobile phone in his hands. After texting someone quickly, he then put his phone back in his pocket.

"Everyone's on their way." He sighed. "You've really caused a lot of trouble, Peter." The young boy looked down at the ground as Emil stated to lecture him. My gaze drifted from Emil and Peter, up to the end of the corridor, where I saw Tino, my homeroom teacher, skid from around the corner, red faced and tears in his eyes. Behind him was a tall man, with an intense gaze and blond hair. I recognised him as the woodwork's teacher, Berwald Oxenstierna. Tino rushed up to Peter and collected him up in his arms, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"_Voi Luoja! _(Oh my God!) Peter! Never do that to me again, please!" Tino cried into Peter's hair and Peter wrapped his arms around Tino's neck to return the hug.

"M'sorry Mama…" He muttered and I looked at Alfred, who looked back at me and we both glanced back to Peter and Tino. I was completely unaware than Tino had a son, or that his son called him 'Mama'. Tino looked back at Mr Oxenstierna as he approached and took Peter from Tino's arms so that he was carrying the boy.

"Never run away from us again." Mr Oxenstierna grunted and Peter reached up to hug him.

"But I found Alfred!" Peter protested and both adults looked up at Alfred and I. Tino sighed and brushed some of Peter's hair away from his eyes.

"You mustn't go around bothering people, Peter." Tino said as Peter stared at him with wide eyes. "Do you realise that you not only had Papa, Emil and me looking for you, but Uncle Matthias and Uncle Lukas? You've caused a lot of trouble!" Tino, Mr Oxenstierna and Emil all glanced at the two of us. "I'm so sorry about this." Tino started to apologise, but Alfred put a hand up to silence him.

"It's okay. I always love to meet my fans." Alfred replied and grinned. Peter grinned back at him. I cleared my throat.

"I didn't know that you had a son, Tino." I said and Tino smiled and ruffled Peter's hair. I saw a sudden flash of gold and I saw a simple golden band on his ring finger. How did I miss that?

"_Kyllä _(Yes), I don't mention him much, because we've normally got work to do." Tino replied and looked up at Mr Oxenstierna. "Berwald and I have been married for six years and we adopted Peter soon after we were married." Alfred and I both smiled at how amazing it was. Mr Oxenstierna let Peter down from his arms, and took Tino's hand. In his other hand, his took Peter's and Tino smiled at us.

"Well, we'd better be off now." He smiled. "We're very sorry to have disturbed you." All four of them, Emil included, turned and started to walk back down the corridor. As I stared after them, I saw how perfect they were as a family. I smiled sadly. I never had that.

Alfred cleared his throat and glanced at me as the four disappeared around the corner. I sighed.

I had anticipated this. I knew exactly what Alfred wanted to know and, to be honest; it was time I told my story. I turned to look at him.

"Meet me in my room at nine this evening. Make sure you get your homework done before hand and you can bring Hero." I then went to walk back to my place. "Oh, and bring a bottle of something alcoholic with you." I opened the door. "I'm going to need a bit of Dutch courage." And, with that, I left Alfred out in the hallway.

* * *

At ten past nine, Alfred arrived on my doorstep. He had changed his clothes from the school uniform, had a wriggling Hero in his arms and a bottle of bourbon held in his fingertips. He stepped across the threshold and I muttered that he was late. He set Hero down, and the overly large cat trotted off to find Merlin. Alfred stood by the door awkwardly as I padded past the living area.

"We're going into the bedroom?" Alfred asked as I pushed the bedroom door open. Inside, I could see that Hero had found Merlin, dozing in his "basket" (basically, a pile of pillows and blankets) and decided to join him.

"Alfred, there is a possibility that I'm going to get very drunk. If I pass out, I want to be on my bed when it happens." I replied. My pride couldn't take it if someone had to carry me, even if it was just Alfred. Alfred gave a sharp nod and followed me.

The curtains were drawn and the lamps on the bedside tables were on, saturating the room in an dull orange glow. Alfred ran a hand through his hair as I took the bottle from him. I checked the label.

"I take it that you got this from Gilbert." I said and Alfred nodded. I unscrewed the cap and took a small sniff, acting like I knew what I was doing.

"Look, Artie," Alfred murmured, "If you don't want to do this, then you don't have to." I screwed the cap back on and strode to the bed. I said nothing as Alfred came up beside me and tapped my shoulder. He then pressed his lips to my temple and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.

"I haven't even started yet and I'm already feeling depressed." I whispered as Alfred kissed just below my jaw. I then gently pushed him away and sat down on the bed, cradling the bottle of bourbon in my hands, watched as the dark amber liquid sloshed about inside the glass.

I've never recalled this story to anyone, even now; Alfred's the only person I've told. So, I felt very uneasy as Alfred stared down at me with his curiously bright eyes. I took a long swig of the whiskey before glancing back up at Alfred.

"You know, this isn't an easy tale for me." I muttered and he nodded, taking a seat on the silk duvet, causing the mattress to dip slightly. "I could cry." I would cry. I knew I would.

"Then I'll be here." He replied with earnest eyes. "I've got a good shoulder, you've cried on it before." I scoffed and took another sip of alcohol.

"That wasn't my fault though. I didn't choose to cry that day." I moved around and sat back against the soft pillows. "Well, if you really want to know…" I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a minute to gather up all of my thoughts and to start trying to form the words of my long and miserable life. I clicked at the bottle with a fingernail and then opened my eyes. It took me a few more moments before I started to speak.

"My story starts a good five years before Scott was born." I began and Alfred brought his legs up onto the bed so that he could get comfortable. He sensed that he would be here a while.

My mother and father had met at a music festival. Glastonbury, to be exact. Mum was there for the music, and my dad was the lead guitarist in an amateur punk band.

Can you see where this is going yet?

So, my dad got into a fight with one of his band mates, and mum was there to help patch him up. Mum often described him as having, "The messiest chestnut hair, beautiful green eyes, and the bloodiest nose you would ever see. Ripped jeans, a t-shirt with a band I'd never heard of written all over it. You'd never have guessed that it was love at first sight."

A whirlwind romance blossomed and, all within in five years, they got eloped (to which my grandparents weren't too pleased about), and Scott arrived. However, when Scott was six months old, their marriage started to crumble.

During those four of those five years, dad was trying to break through into the music world. He had auditioned for many label companies, but none were willing to take him. A year before Scott was born, the band were finally signed. They were a huge success when they started, and everyone wanted a bite of their personal lives. Everything finally got to Mum.

When Scott was almost a year old, she was coming out of her local chemist, when she was bombarded with paparazzi. She was startled and fled back into the shop before they all eventually got bored and left her alone. She talked to dad about it, he asked the photographers to stay away from his family, but they didn't listen. Eventually, Mum got sick of everything, packed up a suitcase for her and Scott and left. A month later, they filed for divorce. She just couldn't take it anymore.

Dad was actually a very good father, or at least that I could remember. He visited us whenever he was available, he read us bedtime stories, took us to the park and did all the things that a normal dad would do.

Even after they divorced, it was clear that Mum and Dad loved each other. After a small series of one night stands, Mum found out she was pregnant with me.

During the divorce and the long period afterwards, Dad got into some risky business. And that business eventually killed him.

It was a few weeks before my sixth birthday when the police came knocking on the door. Mum shooed Scott and I upstairs, and the police informed her that Dad had died from a drugs overdose.

Alfred reached forward to pull me into a hug and a gulped back the bourbon. I was now more than a little tipsy, on the verge of tears and starting to slur my words.

We had been there for a good few hours, Alfred listening as I told my story between prolonged periods of awkward silences, where I fought to hold back tears and drowned my sorrows in the alcohol in my hands.

I placed the bottle on the bedside table, not wanting to drink anymore. Alfred shifted up so that we were lying next to each other, our heads close and lain on the plush pillows. He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead as the tears burned the back of my eyes and started to overflow.

"Shit, Al." I whimpered. "I can still remember her fucking face. It was like she had crumpled in on herself. She said to us, 'Daddy's with the angels now'." I scrubbed at my face with my fist, willing the tears to stop, just fucking stop. Alfred cupped my face with his hand as he brushed a few tears from my reddened cheeks. Lying there as Alfred tried to calm me down, and I felt pathetic. Pathetic that the story of a failed marriage, that affected only six years of my life, could send me over the edge like this. In my past, I'd cried several times, but not like this. Never like this. Every time I cried, I always stopped myself, meaning that I was always bottling the rest of it up. Tonight, that bottle had broken.

I was practically howling as Alfred wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him so that I could cling to his neck. I was soaking his t-shirt with my tears as I buried my face into his chest, but he said nothing as I did so, only muttering my name occasionally and gently shushing me, like you would to a screaming child.

I'm pretty sure it was the alcohol that was having this effect on me.

"Alfred, I have something to confess," I sniffed during a calm phase of my sobbing. Alfred pressed his forehead to mine, the corners of his lips turning upwards. His eyes seemed to smile at me as he did so. Those wonderful blue orbs shining brightly in the soft light, making them look so much more beautiful than before. The sight made me sigh slightly. I licked my lips as I tried to structure my sentence carefully.

"Yeah?" He encouraged as I ran the tip of my tongue over my lips again. I took a deep breath.

"I have half a million pounds in my bank account."

* * *

Apparently, alcohol has the ability to loosen my tongue more than I wanted it to. Take Halloween for example. Spiteful words from some bitches who hate my existence, feeling like I wasn't wanted and a bottle of whiskey later resulted in my announcing that I thought Alfred was quite nice looking and trying to make out with him, which didn't work, and escalated in Alfred putting me to bed early and a pounding headache the following morning.

Now, I had drunk about twice the amount of alcohol I had had on Halloween. So, my tongue was a lot looser and more willing to do a bit of chit chat. After Alfred retracted himself from my grip, a clumsy half explanation from me and some yelling from him ("You made me feel so fucking guilty at Christmas when you went off on one about not being able to afford to go home, why else do you think I brought your Mom to New York?!"), I found myself sitting on the tiled bathroom floor, my back pressed against the closed door with Alfred knocking on the other side of the wood. I'm not entirely sure how I managed to get into the bathroom, but my eyes were tearing up again and I heard Alfred let out a frustrated huff.

"Explain it to me again." He growled through the door. "Because I didn't hear what you were babbling on about." I swallowed thickly; forcing the lump in my throat down, before it came bobbing back up again.

"I can't touch the money…" I replied, my voice shaking slightly. "Not until I'm eighteen. It was one of the conditions on my Dad's will."

"What about your Mom?" I could feel myself shaking my head.

"She won't touch it. She hates it."

"And your brother?"

"He still has his, sitting dormant in his account until he figures out what to do with it." I took another breath. "Before Dad died, a fair percentage of his wages came to us. It helped to pay our bills, the mortgage and put food on the table. When Dad died, it stopped coming. We were struggling and we were forced out of our house. Mum started to work extra shifts at work just to get somewhere.

"Then… she got desperate and started to take out loans that we all knew she couldn't pay back. We got into debt and… couldn't pay it back…" I trailed off, sniffing loudly and rubbing at my face with a scrunched up piece of toilet paper. There was a small tap on the door.

"Artie… Open the door…" Alfred murmured. I stood up, and opened the door, which gave a loud creak. Alfred stood in the doorway and reached out, grabbing my arm and pressing my face into his shoulder. His arms wrap around my shoulders, forcing me into a tight hug and I felt my finger grip his t-shirt slightly.

"I'm sorry…" He muttered as his lips brushed the shell of my ear and I could feel a tingle scurrying down my spine. "I thought you had been lying to me, when you said you had money. I thought you were just like the rest of them." He leaned down to press an open mouthed kiss to my neck. He then moved his lips up, kissing under my jaw before pulling away slightly, and staring intensely at me. I felt a heat starting to rise up in my face, as he swiftly pressed his mouth to mine. His lips moved heatedly against mine, both of us feeling a sudden urge for each other. His arms moved down, encircling my waist and his warm hands pulling my shirt up slightly to feel the skin on the small of my back.

As he pried my lips apart with his tongue, he pulled me towards the bed. In a flash, his arms moved again, suddenly picking me up from the floor and placing me in the mess of cotton sheets and plush pillows. He hovered over me, hands placed either side of my head to keep himself up and his eyes dark and menacing and _so beautiful. _He lowered down to suck on the exposed skin on my neck, leaving small bruises as he worked his way down, until he got to my collarbone and the top of my shirt.

I muffled a groan as he reached down and started to unbutton the fabric, slipping a hand in and his fingers resting dangerously close to my left nipple. His mouth collided with mine again, our tongues rubbing against each other and I was now starting to feel the effects of both the alcohol and Alfred. All of the blood in my body was starting to rush south, causing my trousers to start feeling tighter and my head feeling light.

I moaned into Alfred's mouth as his fingers gently rubbed at the small nub on my chest, pinching it slightly and twisting. He broke the kiss, a small trial of saliva connecting our lips before if abruptly split. He pulled my shoulders up slightly, slipping my shirt off my shoulders and then off my arms before throwing the garment across the room.

He lowered his head again; kissing and bruising the new patches of skin that he was unable to get at before, marking me as his. My hands reached up, slipping my fingers through his golden locks of hair and gripping tightly as his mouth latched onto the nipple he hadn't been abusing with his hand a few minutes ago. I panted as his teeth scrapped across the sensitive skin.

I could feel his hands moving down, gripping the waistband of my trousers and tugging on them slightly. His fingers moved down to suddenly grab hold of the zip and move it down. After quickly unbuttoning the item of clothing, he tugged it down and pressed his palm again my groin, causing me to moan loudly and buck slightly into his hand. He glanced up at me, smirking slightly against my skin and squeezed his hand around my erection. I shook my head frantically, as let go and the tips of his fingers snapped at the waistband of my underwear. He was going too fast for me, I didn't want this to happen tonight, when I was depressed and filled with alcohol.

He pulled away and placed his hand on my hip instead, rubbing small circles into the pale skin. He released his mouth from my chest and glanced up at me, pressing a peck to my chin before pressing his forehead to mine.

"I love you." He whispered. "I love you so much." He nuzzled his nose into my cheek, a small smile blooming on his lips.

"I love you too." I muttered back and he kissed the side of my mouth. He took the hand up from where it was still clutching my hip and moved himself so that he was laying next to me. We stayed there, kissing and sighing until we both drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

The next morning, I woke with a splitting headache, a foul taste in my mouth, and a cold space next to me on the bed. I squinted slightly against the bright morning sun and buried my face further into my pillow. As I tried to fall back to sleep, I heard a loud laugh coming from the living area. I groaned and sat up, realising that I wouldn't be able to get anymore sleep today.

My head pounded as I slipped out of the soft sheets. Quickly glancing around the room, I picked up a t-shirt from the floor (not mine, as it was too big. Alfred must undressed himself after I had fallen asleep, and I seem to have kicked my trouser off as well), and pulled it on. Yawning and running a hand through my hair, I padded across the bedroom and opened the door and regretted it almost immediately.

Sitting around on the sofa, was Lovino, Matthew and the bastards from the band, all watching something stupid on my television. It took them a while to notice me, and silence fell across the room. From the kitchen, Alfred came waltzing through, and then stopped abruptly.

"Hey, Eyebrows!" Gilbert called, breaking the silence. "You've got a little something on your neck!" Antonio and Francis chuckled slightly and I shot glares to all of them. I turned around and slammed the door shut, stumbling through to the bathroom. I heard the door opened and then closed again as I inspected the skin on my neck in the mirror. Multiple little pink and purple bruises covered my neck and travelled down underneath the t-shirt. I glared at the mirror as I saw the cause of the love bites leaning up against the door frame.

"I blame you for this." I muttered and Alfred gave me a half smile.

"I know." He replied.

"And I want you to get rid of them."

"I know."

"Preferably sooner than later."

"Okay." I grasped the porcelain sink and looked down at the taps.

"Did I say anything last night?" I asked. "My memory is rather… hazy at the moment." Alfred stepped forward and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pressing a small kiss to my cheek.

"Well, you told me about your Dad, and why your family hates celebrities, and you told me that you have half a million dollars in your bank account." He explained.

"Pounds." I corrected him and turned around to press my face into his bare chest. Alfred furrowed his eyebrows.

"How much is that in dollars?" He asked, slightly confused. I thought for a moment.

"Just over seven hundred and fifty thousand." I replied, my arms curling around his waist so that my hands rested on the small of his back. We stood there in silence for a few moments, his head now resting on my shoulder and I could feel him breathing softly against my ear. Another burst of laughter from the living room erupted though the walls as Alfred pulled back, a reassuring smile on his face. I sighed.

"I'm going back to bed." I muttered and left him standing by the sink. I collapsed down onto the springy mattress and pulled the sheets up over myself.

"Hey Artie?" Alfred called as I closed my eyes. "What are we? I mean, what is our relationship?" I gripped the pillowcase my head was lying on and thought for a second.

"Ask me that when I don't have a hangover." I murmured in reply.

* * *

**ASDFGHJKL *Headdesk* Please excuse my pathetic almost semi-smut. I'm still not very good at writing stuff like that…**

**At the time of writing this, £500,000 is $775,200. Yep. That's a lot of money. So! Arthur's past has now been revealed! Haha~ Next chapter will be the Valentine's Day special, so stay tuned for that!**


End file.
